Reflected Reailty
by Wikina
Summary: What if something were to happen that led to a strange occurence that leaves a normal 16 year old girl in a movie, and happens upon the three herd members? Is this new Ice Age World what adventure she's been looking for? Horrible summary, better story.
1. Reality Turns

Reflected Reality

We had a real hard time at school today. By 'real', I mean _real _hard. It started as having a simple fraction test, then somehow spiralled into becoming a state-wide decimal test. Oh well, at least I can say that I think I did good at them.

So, to calm down after the tough day, I arrived home and decided to watch _Ice Age. _I've seen it a million times already, but I can't get enough of it. Laughed at the humorous parts, who can contain laughter at those parts?

Well, anyway…. Near the end of the movie, the ground began to shake. It started out as a slight tremor, I figured it to be an Earthquake; But wait, we don't get quakes down under. For some reason, my eyes drifted towards the video recorder. Strangely enough, in the small black rectangle thing letters were spelt out in the order as follows;

P-O-R-T-A-L

Light blue flames flickered out from the television, before turning in a circle with rapid speed. It soon looked like a portal, but to what? I didn't find out, as everything went black.

Chapter 1; Reality Turns

"**Augh…." **My head throbbed, it felt as if I had cracked it open on a rock.

"**Hey, she's coming to!" **What the…? Where was that voice coming from? It sounded familiar.

Heavy eyelids slowly fluttered open to reveal a stream of blinding light directed at me. I flinched at the sudden pain, but from waking up in different lit rooms the past few days taught me to keep them open; It wouldn't blind me, just be painful for a minute or so. Groaning, I tried to sit up, but I wasn't on two legs, I was on four! Where the hell was I? What am I?

Remembering the voice, I looked around, more interested in who was watching me rather then my own appearance. When my eyes rested on a familiar, comical figure I leapt back in surprise.

"**Eheh… Manny… She's awake…. Help!" **

I couldn't believe it. I was dreaming. Yeah, that's it. Just dreaming. That didn't explain the throbbing though, you never got injured in dreams. Standing before me was no other then the lovable lisper featured in the _Ice Age _movies. I instantly freaked and turned to run, but only ended up falling face first in the dirt. Then I remembered; I wasn't on two legs right now. Maybe…?

"**Hey, what do I look like to you?" **The small whisper escaped my lips after encouragement from my throat. **"And what is your name?" **Surely I was dreaming, _or _this was just a sloth that looked incredibly like Sid from the movie. That still didn't explain where I was.

"**Uh… A dire wolf?" **The yellow-furred sloth looked at me like I was nuts, then remembered my other question. **"Sid." **

Oh, no… Was that bright flickery thing really a portal able to transport you into a movie? Well, it obviously wasn't a dream, so maybe if I stuck with them the portal would eventually open. So, I was a dire wolf, perfect. Now I could torment Sid like Diego always does in the movie. Speaking of that cat, I wonder if they've been through the adventure yet.

It was a bit odd to be a different animal, especially a four-legger, it's hard to walk properly. Though I wasn't complaining, I could help them on the journey if they haven't done it yet.

It would be better to keep the thought '_I'M IN A FREAKING MOVIE' _to myself, not blurt it out to the others, they wouldn't even understand.

"**Sid, eh?" **I asked, attempting to rise to my paws, though it was hard. **"My name's…" **I trailed off. My real name, Tian, is too much of a human name, so I would have to come up with more of a… wolf name?

A small puddle of water stood off to the side of where we were talking, it would be just big enough to see what I looked like. Stumbling towards it, the water rippled briefly before clearing to show what my appearance as a wolf was. Even if I do say so myself, I looked rather beautiful for a wolf, not to mention a dire.

A long fang stuck out on each side of my mouth, AKA a dentist's nightmare. They weren't that long, but they were attractive compared to now-a-day wolf fangs. My pelt was a smooth and silky black, eyes a sweet light blue. They glinted dangerously, hah, I feel kinda sorry for Sid, now he'd have two predators teasing him.

Eyes drifting down to study my sturdy legs, I was surprised and pleased to find my front left paw was coated in chocolate brown. I could get used to looking like this, even if it took a while to learn how to move and fight properly.

Soft foot falls came up beside me, I knew instantly it was Sid.

"**Well…?" **He asked, patiently waiting for me to state my name.

"**Delusion," **I replied after moments of silence. What? It suited my appearance.

"**Look who finally woke up," **a deep and familiar voice spoke up as heavy thuds came towards the puddle.

My eyes shot up and I came face to face with mammoth tusks. If getting stuck in the _Ice Age _movie hadn't given me a heart attack, this surely did.

"**Woah!" **I exclaimed in surprise, leaping back from the puddle and almost tripping again. Managing to catch a few glimpses of his dark brown coat and tuft of hair, I instantly realised it was Manny. The mammoth from the movie. Great… As Sid stated at the beginning of the adventure, 'Manny the Moody Mammoth'.

"**If you showed a threat I would of kicked you by now, don't worry. My name's Manny," **The big bundle of poofy hair greeted in his own way, before turning from me and walking down a wide path surrounded by pink petalled azalea trees.

Hey-- This is the place where they first get the baby, but why didn't they have it? Had they already returned it and started heading South, or hadn't even met it yet? **"Ha ha, very funny. I'm sure a kick in the ass by a mammoth hurts." **I barked sarcastically, walking around in random circles in hopes of finally figuring out how to move.

"**It doesh. Trusht me. Hey Manny, let her come!" **Sid piped up in his familiar lisp on the 's' and 'c' letters.

I didn't object to the offer, I wanted to go home so badly, and hopefully once 'Pinkie' was returned I could get to the place I wanted.

"**Are you insane?! She's a predator!" **Manny snapped towards the sloth, eyes narrowed in that way that makes you want to crawl under a rock.

"**Ahem. I'm still here you know." **I raised a brow in annoyance as I said these words, laying on the dirt with paws crossed. I figured out how to move properly, Hallelujah!

"**We're not going South. So good-bye." **Manny snorted, glaring at me. Pfft, I wasn't scared by a glare. From another predator, yes, from a mammoth, no.

"**I'm not either. Otherwise, why would I be so far away from the migrating animals? C'mon. Wolves are pack-members, we need company, my pack was killed by humans.." **I hated to lie, but it was… appropriate at the given circumstance? The one thought that entered my mind at that moment was to beg. But eh, I'd follow him if he objected anyway.

"**Fine. But don't try anything funny." **Sighing, the mammoth started to walk away, clearly aggravated. I don't know who was better arguing with this giant, me or Diego.

A smirk plastered on my black lips, I rose to my paws and started to walk at my own pace after the duo ahead. Wait, what would I do for food? I'd have to kill…? Great. Oh well, I ate only ten minutes before the portal sucked me in here, so I wouldn't have to worry about food. Too much. But, I kept telling myself it was all a dream. Yes, a very literate and frighteningly realistic one, but come on. It has to be a dream. Or reality decided it was time to throw a completely innocent bystander into a movie. Mother Nature really has to get some lesson in showing gratitude for the people around her. Oh sure, I've done some bad things in my life. But I did nothing to deserve this! I'd rather be sued $1,000 then stuck here, eating something which would meet it's end at my fangs.

"**So he said 'At least pick a female with the same coloured pelt.'. Then I thought; Whoa, she's gonna go all praying mantis on me. You know what I'm saying?" **Surprisingly, it didn't take as long as I thought for the first sentence of the upcoming scene to arrive. Sid was rambling on about female sloths again. I was still walking behind them, waiting impatiently for Diego to come in; So I could chat with him. Hey, don't judge me. Two reasons why it would be better for me;

1. Another predator.

2. He was my favourite character in the movies.

Point made.

"**If you find a mate in life, you should be loyal, in your case grateful. Now get away from me!" **Manny barked impatiently, obviously annoyed by the sloth.

The real thing was even funnier then watching it at home.

"**I think mating for life is stupid," **He paused to take a bite from the apple he was holding, **"there's plenty of Sid to go around. OOF." **

I would have laughed as Sid bumped into Manny's stationary back leg, but before I could he continued and I suddenly remembered the situation about to occur. A death.

"**Manny?" **The sloth questioned as he walked under the large beast, before coming out near his head and eyes widening.

A woman was washed up on the bank, upper body out of the water as she hauled something up the sloping ground. Taking her hand off of the brown bundle as it reached the top, it was about to roll back down into the water when Manny's trunk grabbed it, before rolling it over to finally see the small head of Pinkie. Sid quickly walked up, followed by my cautious figure. The small child smiled slightly, before making a quiet noise and beginning to gently squirm inside the skin-coated sack that he lay in, apparently unknowing to what had occurred.

"**Look at that, he's okay." **The sloth smiled gently, before turning his attention back to the river, only to see the human disappeared from sight. **"She's gone…" **

Manny sighed and turned away, I just sat there, ears pressed back against my skull, she would of drowned.

"**Manny, are you forgetting something?" **I asked softly, beating Sid to the question.

"**No."**

"**But you just saved him!" **Sid whined, bending down to pick the small kid up in his clawed hands.

"**Yeah, well I'm still trying to get rid of the last thing I saved." **He walked back down the path, but luckily not far enough before his companion began talking again.

"**Look, that must be his herd right up the hill. We should return him." **The 'hill' Sid mentioned was actually a cliff, with few ledges. But at least he had good eyesight, as smoke lifted from above the towering rocks, obviously a human camp was there.

"**Let's get this straight here. There is no 'we'. There never was a 'we'. In fact, with out me, there wouldn't even be a 'you'." **Manny growled, using his trunk to poke Sid in the chest once.

"**Just up the hill." **Sid protested, a frown on his face and emphasis on each word.

"**I'm. Not. Going!" **The mammoth glared daggers at the sloth, again using his trunk to mouth, in this case nose, every word.

I chuckled silently at the hilarious scene, though kept it out of ear shot.

"**Fine. Be a jerk," **Sid spat, turning around and starting to walk towards the cliff, **"I'll take care of you. We don't need that meanie-weeny mammoth do we? No we don't." **He tickled the baby with his claw, then looked up at the cliff, turned back to us, and waited for Manny to speak.

"**That's good, you'll take care of him," **Manny muttered, **"You can't even take care of yourself!" .**A smirk showing behind his wide trunk, he motioned his head to the top of the cliff and waited for Sid to climb it.

Accepting the challenge, the sloth turned and scratched his claws against the smooth surface. He eventually managed a hold with his right hand and used his feet to move up the narrow ledges. Sure enough, a few seconds later he faltered and he twisted into an odd position as his head hit the side of the rock.

"**You're an embarrassment to nature, do you know that?" **I smirked, walking over to the cliff edge with Manny following suit.

"**I'm fine, I'm fine!" **Sid called down to us, before murmuring a cautious 'I'm gonna die' to himself. A few rocks up and the wrapping that made the baby's bed started to unravel, Pinkie seeming to enjoy the thrill as he fell from the wrapping and was caught by Sid's clawed feet. **"Manny!" **The sloth cried in desperation.

Just as his claws faltered and the baby fell from the high height, Manny held out his trunk to catch it. Finally Diego would come in!

1.…

2.…

3!

Sure enough, on the count of 3, a tawny coat flashed past and grabbed Pinkie with his jaws in mid-fall. Wait, where the hell did he jump from? It had been bothering me ever since the third time I saw the movie. Ears perked and eyes alert, I scanned the waterfall, just able to see past it's gushing water. There were a few ledges, one was just high enough to pounce off and land safely on the dirt-covered ground. How he got there in the first place was still a mystery, but I decided needn't worry about it at the moment. In an hours time I would be listening to a baby wail on and on and on and on… And on. Still caught in my own thoughts, I was sprung back when I heard talking. By the sounds of it, Manny wasn't taking too kindly to the fanged predator.

"**I don't like this cat. He reads minds." **Sid whispered to Manny, a clawed hand cupped over his mouth in an attempt to make it private. I don't even know why he tried, Diego was right next to him. Shuddering slightly, the sloth scampered over to the mammoth with the baby in tow.

A low growl emitting from the depths of his throat, the tiger directed his gaze at Manny. **"Name's Diego, friend." **He stated, standing on a low, wide rock that was the closest to the ground of the rather large pile of rocks he had landed on.

"**Manfred, and I'm not your friend. This is--" **The mammoth was cut short by my interrupting, trunk pointed at me with a distasteful look.

"**I can state my own name, **_thank you_**."** I snapped, avoiding the murderous glare Manny was fixing me with. **"Delusion."** I finished matter-of-factly.

"**Fine, 'Manfred'." **Diego growled, watching Sid scurry off to hide behind the mammoth's large leg. **"If you're looking for the humans you're wasting your time, they left this morning." **

"**Thanks for the advice, now beat it." **Manny then turned his attention to Sid, whom was peeking out behind his leg in concern of being attacked by the tiger. **"Fine, I'll help you take it too it's herd. But promise me you'll leave me alone after that?" **Not even waiting for a reply, he started to walk off down the path.

"**Okay, okay I promise." **Sid started, waddling after the lumbering giant.

Stretching out stiff limbs from which I was still getting used to, I didn't hear the part about Manny's 'poofy hair' as I turned to Diego. **"Ugh, herbivores…" **Was all I bothered to say before beginning to trot after said herbivores. As I caught up, I couldn't help but know that piercing eyes were burning into all three of our backs, clearly from the sabre tooth.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, spent a lot of time on it. I've been obsessed with the movie lately, I have contstant phases on being obsessed over a certain movie. This month's phase is Ice Age! Whoo~ Anyway, remember to review and give pointers to anything you think I may be able to improve on. Next chapter will be up soon. ^_^


	2. Fading Smoke

Chapter 2; Fading Smoke

I hadn't realised how hot a day it was back at the river as my trio walked silently through the azalea path, then onto a cliff-like ledge that expanded along the rocks. I constantly wished there was a way to make time fly as we continued to walk through the heat.

It was roughly ten o' clock when we finally reached the small ledge leading to the village. Manny, being his good ol' self, was obviously first to react to Sid's nervousness about throwing him onto the ledge.

"**What are you doing? Just drop him on the ledge." **He snapped, and Sid, being his humorous self, or just not wanting to get pummelled to a pulp, reached his long arms up and dropped Pinkie onto the ledge. At least after Manny took the baby and put it up there, that is.

"**Shouldn't we make sure the humans found him?" **The sloth asked, but instantly regretted it when he heard the reply.

"**Good idea."**

"**Oh-no. No no no no!" **Sid cried as Manny's trunk wrapped around his feet, hauled him into the air, and threw him onto the ledge, where he landed beside Pinkie. Fearing for his life, Sid covered his face with trembling arms and shouted a, **"Don't spear me!"**. When no pain befell him, the sloth uncovered his arms and frowned at the abandoned village.

"**Hey! Watch the-- OMPH." **So this was what dirt tastes like. Sure glad I didn't take the dare that my friend told me to eat dirt when I was young. Manny had just grabbed my back paw and thrust me over the ledge, resulting in clashing with the unthinkable enemy that shoved it's little grain-like soldiers into my mouth, and almost toppling over Sid.

"**Oh, this could be a problem." **The said sloth stated, eyes drifting around the abandoned camp in awe at all the objects he could play with.

"**Now what?-- Oh, that's just perfect." **Manny somehow managed to get over the ledge and was walking up behind us, sighing in disappointment at the area.

"**Don't mind me, just laying in the dirt like someone bashed a hammer onto my head." **I muttered, growling slightly at their lack of concern before I spoke up. But oh well, it wasn't exactly a life-or-death situation. I doubted it was even going to be a threateningly-hurtful-bruise.

"**Hammer?" **They both questioned, I just shook my head for them to forget it as we began to explore the camp.

I couldn't help but gaze in amazement at all the objects. Hand-made weapons lay in a small pile next to a shredded tent, the marks that slid down it unmistakable as a tiger's. Humans really knew how to make weapons in this camp, the spears were carved so carefully that the sun almost glinted off of their silvered-tips. Why had they left them behind? They must have been in such a hurry to catch up to the tiger pack that they forget about them.

I heard the slight _thud _that signalled Sid had come across the rake-like stick, and the rock of a carefully weaved basket as Pinkie fell into it.

"**I told you they were gone." **The flat and emotionless reply was none other then Diego's. Finally some actual adventure. I spun around from the weapons I was looking at and sat down, eyes continuing to study the camp's objects, barely paying attention to the conversation.

"**Oh, look who it is. Don't you have some poor defenceless animal to disembowel?" **Manny asked sarcastically, eyes darting from the cat to the baby. In just a quick slash the tiger could easily reach out and kill it.

"**They couldn't have gone far. I mean, they could've gone this way, or this way… Or maybe this way." **Sid rambled on, passing between Manny and Diego, then continuing on a little way before bending down to pick a stick up.

"**You don't know much about tracking, do you?" **The sabre asked, trying to prove a yet to be established point.

"**Hey, I'm a sloth. I see a twig, eat a leaf, that's my tracking." **Sid shrugged, breaking the stick in half.

"**You didn't miss them by much. It's still green, they headed North two hours ago." **Diego stated, picking up a twig with his paw, then cracking it as he put it back on the ground.

"**It's still green. They headed North two hours ago." **Sid mimicked, placing the two halves of the stick in his mouth in an attempt to make it look like sabre fangs. The group raised their brows at this gesture, but before the next speech could occur, I got to my paws and walked over to Sid, a smirk on my face. Diego wondered what the hell I was going to do, Manny just rolled his eyes but watched anyway.

"**Back to the tracking business. I thought that you seeing a mysterious object and deciding to walk over to it, but instead tripping over it, was more like your tracking." **My jaws reached out and snapped the two twigs in half, of whom were both in Sid's mouth. They both fell to the ground and cracked in yet more halves as I placed a heavy paw on them.

"**Aye!" **Sid let out a startled scream, leaping back as black jaws cracked the twigs. He picked up another twig and pointed it accusingly at me. **"You're bent on scaring the living daylights out of me, aren't you?" **

"**No, I'm bent on making sure you don't go do some stupid thing and get yourself in trouble." **The smirk was still across my lips, I couldn't help it. Sid was better to annoy then the next door neighbour's dog.

Pinkie giggled and fell backwards, landing on a stick that propelled a dead fish onto Manny's forehead, which resulted in him frowning at air.

"**You don't need this aggravation," **The sabre began, walking up to the baby and placing a claw into his clothing, pulling him back. **"Give me the baby, I can track humans down a lot faster then you can."**

"**And you're just a helping citizen, right?" **Manny asked, using his trunk to pull the baby out of the tiger's claws.

"**I just know where the humans are going." **Diego narrowed his eyes, the protective trunk was sealed tightly around the infant.

"**Glacier Pass. Everyone knows they have a settlement on the other side." **The mammoth looked over into the distance, two huge glaciers barely visible, with a path that looked like a twig leading through them.

"**Well, unless you know how to track, you're never going to reach them until the pass closes up with snow. Which should be like… tomorrow. So you can hand that baby to me or go get lost in a blizzard. It's your choice." **Diego looked away at the snow, shifty eyes glancing back at the large animal constantly.

Considering things for a moment, Manny sighed in defeat and picked the baby up with his trunk, handing it to Sid, who stood rather bravely next to the tiger. **"There's your little bundle of joy, we're returning it to the humans." **The mammoth said simply, then turned away and began to walk off, leaving two predators and prey.

"**You won't always have Jumbo around to protect you, and when that day comes, I suggest you watch your back. 'Cause I'll be chewin' on it." **The sabre tooth threatened, circling Sid and making the sloth shiver in fear. He didn't take me as a threat, and I didn't really mind; A single dire against a sabre would be… an odd fight? 99.9% chance Diego would win.

"**Hey, 'uber-tracker', up front where I can see you." **Manny called up ahead, with Diego stopping his circling and walking ahead of Manny.

"**Help. Me." **Sid pleaded with a shallow voice, eying me for help.

"**Sorry, sloth, you're on your own with this one." **I smirked, before trotting to catch up with the other two, an afraid Sid hot on my tail.

Now an hour of walking with a baby wailing. Yeah, I'd rather do this then sleep peacefully in bed. I don't know how my mother put up with me when I was a baby, apparently I was a heavy cryer. Sure enough, soon after we set out, the kid started wailing. Two words for the trip that was to ensue;

Oi vey.


	3. Devil Child

Chapter 3; Devil Child

"**Someone shut it up!" **I couldn't take it anymore, Pinkie was wailing non-stop, and the crying began about half an hour ago. It was the worst punishment of all punishments for doing nothing wrong. **"I don't care if you name it Pinkie, it's official name is now Devil Child." **I stated, blue eyes narrowed in frustration as the path we were walking on continued to widen.

The path had two sandy-brown cliffs on each side, every few metres the path would become wider, giving us more room to walk freely in. The white, puffy clouds danced above us in the sky, while the sizzling sun burnt down on our backs. What made it worse, the sun was especially focused on me, as I had a black pelt. Black attracts heat. How I would love to be Sid for the moment. Wait, take that back. I don't want to be in an annoying, stinky sloths body even to escape the burning heat. Hmm… Didn't dogs pant to lose heat? Letting my tongue loll out of my muzzle, you could definitely feel the difference in heat as I began to pant.

"**Why do you wolves do that, anyway?" **Manny asked, trying to clear his mind from the baby's wailing with a good conversation.

"**You mean panting? If you do that, you lose heat. Sadly enough, not by much." **After the reply, Sid tried to copy what I was doing, which resulted in laughs from Manny and Diego. **"Sid, don't strain yourself. I think only the canine and feline species can do it. Not too sure about felines actually, I know they have some way of losing heat…" **I trailed off, which was a big mistake, as our minds drifted back to the wailing baby.

"**I can't take it anymore!" **Manny snapped irritably, apparently he did not do wailing babies, which was perfectly understandable.

"**I've eaten things that didn't complain this much!" **Diego growled, ears pressed back in attempt to block hearing off momentarily.

"**He won't stop squirming!" **Sid whined, walking along with Devil Child wriggling around in his arms, but it was upside down. Sid was a horrible caretaker.

"**Put him down!" **The tiger snapped, looking ready to pounce if the kid didn't shut the hell up.

"**Sheesh. Pick him up, put him down, do this, nah nah nah." **The sloth stopped at a smooth rock and placed the baby down, studying him for any signs of discomfort.

After a few minutes of discussing nose-lickings for Devil Child and how humans are unsanitary, Manny got an idea. **"What about some milk?"**

"**Ooh, I'd love some!" **Sid yelled excitedly, only to receive an irritated reply from Diego.

"**Not you, the baby!" **

Sid frowned and turned in my direction, the group following suit. **"Well?" **The sloth asked.

I was disgusted by them briefly, understanding the idea. **"Ugh, god no! No one in their right mind is going to make me do that." **I glanced at Sid and added a hasty reply. **"Let me rephrase that, No one that's alive will make me do that." **

Just then, a melon dropped out of a nearby bush. **"Food!" **Manny and Sid exclaimed, but before they could grab it a plump dodo leaped out of the bush, grabbed the melon and squawked protectively, before running off.

Growling, I stalked after it, but knew not follow it directly into the group of dodo's that was awaiting around the corner. Instead, I followed a short route up the cliff and stopped on the edge, the trio walking up behind me. From this perch, we could see the whole dodo camp. Some were doing star jumps, one was using a stick to randomly point in any direction and yelling 'Prepare for the Ice Age!' or 'Protect the Dodo way of life!'. A long line of dodos walked out from under a rock-like arch and marched like soldiers, badly singing 'I don't know but I've been told, the end of the world be mighty cold.'.

"**Ice Age?" **Sid asked, looking down upon the camp with a confused expression.

"**I've heard of these crackpots." **The sabre emitted a low growl as he watched the walking buffet continue to do star jumps, march, and yell.

"**Intruders! Intruders! Intr-- AH."** The same dodo that had taken the melon placed it back on a stump with two other melons, before turning around to spot us on the cliff and run around madly, then tripping into a bubbling pit of which I had no idea what was inside.

"**Now don't fall in. If you do you will," **A dodo instructed to three other dodos gathered around the pit, but pausing in surprise as the stupid dodo fell in. A rotting stench drifted up from the pit and the dodos made disgusting faces as they smelt it, **"burn and die."**

"**Hey, can we have our melon back? Devil Child's hungry and--" **I started, but was cut short as the dodo instructing the other's ran over, leaping onto the stump and standing protectively over the melons.

"**No way! This is our private stockpile for the Ice Age. Sub-Arctic temperatures will force us underground for a million billion years."** He explained, looking down at the melons proudly.

"**So you got three melons?" **Manny cut in on the conversation, a brow raised at the fatal flaw in the dodo's plan.

Glancing towards the melon, Dab the dodo looked up and glared. **"Then if you weren't smart enough to plan ahead, doom on you!" **The other dodo's took up the chant, before Dab tripped over the melon and landing roughly on his back. The green ball, however, had other plans and rolled straight into Sid's hands. **"Oh, no! The melon! Tae Kwan dodos, attack!" **

On their leader's signal, the 'Tae Kwan Dodos' took up karate-like stances and bounced towards the melon. One of the dodos bounced next to Sid and landed on his head, using a clawed foot to shove the melon out of the sloth's hands and into a dodo's beak. Stupidly, the dodo passed it onto another bird. The line continued until the last dodo threw it over a cliff. **"The melon!" **The line yelled, rushing over to try and retrieve the probably smooshed melon. They then all tumbled off the cliff, what a hilarious way for a life to end.

Sid had managed to sneak up to the stump in the absence of the birds, but knowing Sid, luck wasn't on his side. As soon as the second melon reached his clawed hands, the rest of the dodos, which I may say was probably over a hundred, swarmed him. While doing so, the melon bounced out of his hands and was heading straight for the bubbling pit. Three clueless dodos stormed over and reached all their necks out, the melon balancing between the edge of their beaks.

Dodos were just as unlucky as Sid, because all three fell into the pit, followed by the melon. Gasping, 97 dodos turned around and gasped again as they saw Sid had the last melon. Uttering a war cry, they moved forward and swarmed him again. The green fruit bounced out of the sloth's hands and over to Manny, who picked it up with his trunk.

Oh my gosh, so many birds were now swarming us. **"Stay back bird brain!" **I growled, reaching out my chocolate coated paw and slashing my claws through a dodos neck. The bird fell limply to the ground. Oh my god… I just killed something. What made me do it? Was it the thrill of adventure, or was it just instinct of being in a wolf body? I don't know precisely, but something inside me snapped when I made that first kill. An unlike-me snarl escaped my maw as I leapt for two birds, strong jaws clamping around one's neck and front paws slashing at the other. They both fell limp quickly. Blood rushed down my throat as my fangs dug deeper into the bird's throat, even though it was already dead. This was not me. Why was I acting like this?

When I finally pulled my fangs away from the white bird's neck, I was shocked to see how much impact just one slash could cause a dodo. Their white feathers were now blood-red, crimson seeping from their wounds. I shivered violently, how had I done this? Why did I do it? When my eyes tore away from the carcasses, I could see Sid had just made it through the dodo army. But he didn't do a victory dance, he was just staring at the three dead birds, melon held in his hand firmly. Devil Child managed to crawl out of Manny's trunk and came over to the birds. He must of seen dead animals before, because he only laughed in amusement at the pathetic creatures.

"**Well, humans like meat. It's a healthy diet for fruit and meat to be eaten. Heh…" **I laughed nervously, but also very quietly, Manny was fixing me with a deadly glare. I didn't mean to kill them. What was his problem, anyway? Carnivores had to eat, and the only goddamn meat in this place was from the dodos.

I quickly trotted over to Sid and snatched the melon out of his hands, fangs digging deep into the green skin as juice gently poured out. I hadn't realised how powerful dire wolves were. They were like… a mutant wolf. I still realised I couldn't take on a sabre, I doubted even another dire at this stage, but boy… I was quite proud of myself. Coming back to the matter at hand, I heavily hauled the melon into the dirt, it splattered into four pieces.

Before anyone could say anything, D.C(Devil Child) crawled over to the melon pieces and began to eat one, juice smeared over his lips. The whole group couldn't help to smile at this, Manny was still a little overworked about the dead dodo thing, so I couldn't resist using his line as a tall tower of dodos fell off the cliff. **"Look at that, dinner and a show." **

Gulping, I crawled back over to the dodo carcasses and picked one up in my jaws. I'd need to eat soon. But I couldn't help but be nervous when I picked the carcass up, as Manny continued glaring at me. Diego apparently didn't care about what the mammoth thought, as he came forward and picked one of the carcasses up, before walking off. He must have been starving.

Reaching my head back, I placed the dodo on my back, then picked the remaining carcass up in my jaws before the group set out again. Manny and Sid didn't talk, the only ones who bothered were Diego and I. We were actually having a good time, getting to know each other more.

Soon enough, the sun began to set beyond the sky, as it darkened for the arrival of sunset. A small crater was beneath us, it looked cosy and familiar. We decided to rest there for the night. Walking off of the well-used path, Diego and I stored the carcasses up against the dirt wall, but covered it with leaves, twigs and branches so the scent wouldn't float too far off. I was exhausted. The day was so rough.

It started out as watching a movie in the afternoon, blacking out, arriving mid-morning in the Ice Age world, yada yada yada. After all that, I would expect anyone to fall fast asleep after that. So, truth be told, I was actually the first one asleep that night. I couldn't bother staying awake to watch Sid scrabble all over the place, even though it was funny.

Something awakened me roughly in the middle of the night. I looked around, but everyone was fast asleep. Diego, too, so he must have already had the encounter with the sabres. Gently rising to my paws, I searched the area, something was wrong. I wasn't yet ready to use scents to my advantage, but I could tell by smell that something was wrong by the air. Deciding to go investigate, I snuck a quick glance to the herd, or pack. Seeing as it was evened out with predators and prey, it was hard to make it a 'herd' or 'pack'. Oh well, needn't bother about it at the moment. Snapping back to reality, I silently climbed the small dune surrounding the large hole.

Just as I reached the top, something pushed me backwards, resulting in a hard head crash on the dirt and a creature pinning me.

* * *

Dun Dun Dun ;o Rather short chapter, took me about an hour to write. I actually got the idea of this new character off of Ice Age 2; The Meltdown game. Chapter 4 shall be up some time today.


	4. Lone Fatalis

Chapter 4; Lone Fatalis

The force of the attack lingered around my now throbbing head. I was expecting fangs to sink somewhere into my fur, so my eyes closed tightly. But when no harm came forward, I was relieved to realise that my attacker was no longer in the pin. Opening my eyes, I steadily rose to my paws and looked around, trying to see my opponent. I wasn't ready to fight though, especially at night, it was too dark to see well. Against the darkness of the sky, my eyes barely carved out a figure standing a few metres off.

"**Who are you?" **I demanded, a growl rising from the pit of my throat. I stood stationary, fur pricked and tail held high in dominance.

"**Very sorry for that, your scent tells me that you have been hanging around dodos. So many that it overpowered your main scent. I was guessing that a flock of those birds would be around here. Terribly sorry." **The stranger apologized, stepping forward into the light. It was another wolf, joy. Male, by the tone of voice and appearance. He seemed nice enough, and trustworthy. His pelt was a dark grey, almost black in the light. His eyes were dark green, they were piercing, yet told of a gentle wolf if you looked deep enough. His paws were coated in coal black, the socks running up to the knee on each leg. The only paw not coal black was his right front paw, which was dark grey along with his pelt.

"**Apology accepted," **I nodded politely, a warm smile across my lips. **"My name is Delusion. Yes, I have been hanging around dodos. You may have heard of a strange camp where they settle? Well, I was there. By the looks of it, you are hungry. Would you like a dodo carcass?" **

The male's two fangs on the end of his muzzle were scarcely blood-stained, blotched with dry blood, it would clear soon. **"Nice name. My full name is Lone Fatalis. But everyone just calls me Fatal." **I hoped he could tag along, he looked like a nice wolf, roughly my age. Wait, how old was I as a wolf anyway?

Well… Apparently a single year for dogs is seven years, and I was 16. So that would make me a dispersal as a wolf. Sweet! Oh well, at least it was good to know I was older in this world.

"**Oh, yes please, if you wouldn't mind. I never follow the migrating animals South, I always stay up North. So I don't get much food in that time." **Fatal barked, wagging his tail slightly. I could tell we were going to be good friends. Definitely not mates. I wasn't going to stay in this world anyway, or would I…? Plus, I was never one to like boys in the first place. Sure I'd had a boyfriend or two over the years, but the relationships always turned out ruined eventually. Now I stuck to just having guy friends to hang out with, no actual boyfriends anymore.

"**Very well, come this way. Would you like to travel with me and my friends? We're returning a human baby to his tribe, Sid wouldn't let Manny leave him. So, now we're stuck with Devil Child." **I asked softly, knowing his reaction would be different once he saw what my friends actually were.

"**This is your…?" **Fatal stopped in his tracks, nervously eying the other three sleeping males, barely paying mind to Sid.

"**Strangely enough, it is. We made friends just earlier today. They won't mind you. Sid is the sloth, he's annoying at times, but fun to annoy and you can do anything to him. He's a non-stop talker, but easy to make friends with." **I smiled gently, motioning my head towards the sleeping sloth. We were at the bottom of the hill and had to whisper, Diego was a light sleeper and I'd hate to think what he might do to a strange wolf in the middle of the night.

"**He sounds interesting," **The male laughed silently, walking a little further ahead before stopping, nervously watching the figure of the tiger.

"**I see you've seen the sinister one of the herd," **I noted quietly, stalking up beside him. Now was the best time to whisper, even though we were still metres away. **"Diego. I wouldn't mess with him, we've barely known each other for long but I know what he can and can't do. I doubt he'd harm one of my friends though. Just stay on his good side." **I explained, then watched Fatal nod and give a glance to the mammoth.

"**Manny, the big bundle of 'poofy' hair. Or so he states. Sid once said, 'Manny the Moody Mammoth', and moody for sure. He doesn't take too kindly to predators, heck, an hour after we met he threw me up a ledge only to land roughly in the dirt. Stay on his good side as well, and he'll be a good friend. The little brat in his trunk is Devil Child, D.C for short." **I barked, then stalked off towards the dirt wall and uncovered one of the dodo carcasses. Laying it down on the ground so it was easy for both of us to reach it, I lay down and began to eat, before seeing Fatal's nervous figure. **"Come on, I won't bite." **

Obeying, the wolf walked over and lay down on the other side of the carcass and quietly dug into the meat. His mother must have been a smart cookie, giving him a name like that. I couldn't help but ask the question that had been bugging me. **"You have a very unique name, would you mind telling me how you got it?" **

"**Well," **He began, taking his blood-stained muzzle out of the bird's carcass, **"Weeks before I was born, a lone smilodon ventured into my pack's territory--" **

"**A smilodon? You really know your way around animals, don't you?" **I chuckled silently. That explained his name. A lone smilodon. 'Lone'. Smilodon Fatalis. 'Fatalis'.

"**Heh… Yeah," **He smiled, before continuing with the story. **"I don't know why or how, but my mother knew that a smilodon's whole name was Smilodon Fatalis. The cat somehow befriended the pack and helped us hunt. We brought down some pretty big prey during the time he stayed with us. Eventually, he left. I was born a week before he departed, so my mother named me Lone Fatalis." **

"**Wow, that's an interesting way to get a name. It's nice and unique, with an excellent background on how to get it. Well, good night. When you decide to lay down, it'd be best for you to be a bit off to the side of the herd, so Manny and Diego won't get suspicious." **I barked politely, before rising to my paws and walking to the right of the herd to lay down. It was far enough for Fatal to lay there as well. Yawning, I drifted off into a light sleep.

* * *

The sound of stomping feet woke me instantly. Well, Manny's awake.

"**Where's the baby?" **He demanded, glaring at Diego.

"**You lost it?" **The tiger replied, but before they could both yell 'SID!' I couldn't help but speak up.

"**Ugh, guys, honestly. Is it enough to ask for you to shut the hell up?! You weren't awake in the middle of the night for about an hour!" **I snapped, paw over my muzzle in attempt to get back to sleep.

"**Stay out of this Delu--" **Manny began, but stopped instantly when he saw the nervous figure beside me. Fatal was awake and scared to death. I didn't blame him, if I woke up to the sound of two animals that could kill me with one hit I'd be acting the same way.

"**What? Haven't you seen a grey wolf before?" **I snapped, instantly going into protective mode. I could argue with this giant, no problem.

"**Why is he here?" **Manny growled towards the male, Fatal was actually being rather brave when he just growled back, eyes narrowed threateningly.

"**I met him in the middle of the night. His name is Lone Fatalis. But he prefers being called Fatal. Is that enough information, poofy hair?" **I growled, jumping to my paws and stepping in front of the still laying down male in a fighting stance. Manny just continued to glare, for once not having an answer. **"Anyway, back to Devil Child. Sid probably took him and skedaddled once he saw Fatal, or just decided to take him to impress some ladies. Honestly, when does he ever shut up about female sloths?" **I raised a brow, surprised he hadn't figured it out already.

Muttering something under his breath, the mammoth turned and walked out of the hole, going to the nearby mud spas to find Sid.

"**Problem resolved. Told you he wouldn't take kindly to you at first. In which in any case, lay a claw on this guy and you're getting a good ol' smack on the head with a spear. 'Kay Diego?" **The two predators looked at me strangely, before Fatal rose to his paws and decided to speak.

"**You have a spear?" **He asked, surprised.

"**I have my resources." **I smirked. **"Anyway, we better go see what trouble Sid's in. I have a feeling that something's chasing him."**

Sure enough, around the corner came a screaming Sid. He almost ran into Diego before stopping and putting his hands together, pleading. **"Oh, thank goodness. Thank goodness." **He praised, before cupping his hands over his mouth. **"Oh no, a tiger! Help! Help!" **He cried.

"**Where's the baby?" **Diego snarled, ignoring the pleading sloth.

"**He's okay, Manfred's pooping him out now hurry." **He muttered hurriedly, before yelling again. **"Oh, no! He's got me! Oh, help!"**

Rolling his eyes, Diego turned and walked off. **"Get away from me."**

"**Sid, -- I wouldn't do that." **I barked, trying to hide my amusement as Sid ran over to Diego and kicked him in the rear, instantly triggering a growling reaction.

Just as two rhinos came running around the corner, Sid was in Diego's mouth, barely avoiding his long fangs.

"**Oh, no. The tiger beat us to him." **One of the rhinos complained, before the other one stepped forward.

"**Wait a minute…" **He sniffed the apparently dead sloth, before withdrawing with a disgusted look on his face. **"Yeah, he's dead alright."**

"**Oh, carnivores have all the fun." **They rambled before disappearing around a corner.

"**I hate breaking their hearts like that, but you know how it is." **Sid smirked, happy his plan worked. But when he tried to walk away he realised Diego's jaws not ready to let the sloth go. **"Okay, Diego, you can put me down now." **The sloth grabbed the tiger's jaws and tried to separate them, but failed miserably as Diego only growled in reply. **"Manny. Manny! MANNY!" **Sid yelled, squirming.

I just burst out laughing, I couldn't contain it. It was hilarious! **"Remind me to be included in your plan next time." **I laughed, Fatal soon joining. But we both stopped to hold it in as Manny passed by.

"**Guys, I thought we were in a hurry. And Diego, spit that out, you don't know where it's been." **He stated, walking on as light snow began to fall. Thinking of the thought, Diego instantly dropped the sloth. Where had it been?

"**For a second there, I thought you were actually going to eat me!" **Sid laughed, standing up and brushing himself off.

"**I don't eat junk food." **Ah, the famous quote. Diego smirked before walking off behind Manny.

"**Boy, I thought you were… I thought you were… Were you?" **The sloth asked nervously, but didn't get a reply.

Fatal and I chuckled before walking ahead of Sid and joining the two males at the front of the group. Journey time. WOO!

"**Hey fella's, can we wait up a little? Hey fella's!" **Sid called from quite a while behind us, when the early stage of Old Faithful appeared around the corner.

We all stopped and glanced at each other, all four of us knowing what to do. **"Phew, thanks for waiting!" **Sid thanked, before throwing himself onto the sloth-sized hole that water had gushed up from only moments before.

"**3...2...1." **We all counted, smirking in delight as the sloth sailed into the air as the water hit him, then landing head-first back into Old Faithful.

"**Sure is faithful." **Fatal barked as we turned away and continued walking.

The next scene was the poke-fight. It was hilarious watching it unfold, especially Manny starting to get really irritated.

Soon enough Sid decided it was time to hurl snowballs. Placing D.C on a nearby rock, the sloth bent down and rolled a small snowball, before throwing it at the back of Fatal's neck. He whirred around and fixed the sloth with a deadly glare. But, knowing Sid, he pointed to D.C. Growling, the wolf turned around and continued walking.

We soon passed by a circle of cylinder like rocks made into a circle. Sid, Fatal and I all gazed at it in awe while the other two paid no mind. **"Modern architecture, it'll never last." **Manny reported, not even stopping to look at it.

Frozen lake. Perfect. Yep, we made it there already. Diego and Manny went onto the frozen surface, slipping instantly. I rolled my eyes and walked along the snow at the edge of the lake, quickly making it to the other side. Great minds think alike, Fatal was there almost before me. **"Yo guys." **I said simply as I watched them slide around, then burst out laughing when Sid came in contact with the ice wall.

Not long after the ice-sliding adventure, we came across Scrat, who was looking for a place to bury his acorn. **"You're lost, aren't you?" **Manny asked Diego with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"**No, I know exactly where we are."**

"**Ask him for directions."**

"**I don't need directions." **Diego snapped.

"**Fine, I'll ask him," **The mammoth walked over to Scrat, **"Hey, buddy, you seen any humans go by here?"**

Ignoring the scene take place, I turned to Fatal and we engaged in a small conversation, brought out of our little talk when Diego trotted ahead, waiting for us to come. That went faster then expected.

Only a little while ahead, Sid decided it was time for snow balls again. He rolled one up after placing Devil Child on a rock, then hurled it at my head. Whipping around, I glared daggers at the yellow-furred sloth, Fatal stopped to see what I was doing, then we both smirked. Digging our muzzles into the snow, we walked forward and soon made two large snowballs.

Smirking, I yelled a **"Fire!" **and we both hit the snowballs with our head, making them clash with Sid as he fell back into the snow. **"Ah, revenge. It's so sweet." **

* * *

Chapter 5 shall be up later today, I have a knack for writing right now. o_e

Anyway, this story isn't going to end at the end of the movie, I assure you. It shall go farther then that and possibly have a sequel. =P


	5. Slide of Screams

Chapter 5; Slide of Screams

"**So, we decided to take that route down the path. Would you believe it? We actually came across him. It was an interesting week, you'd like it better if you were actually involved." **Fatal barked, trotting beside me as we continued on our journey. He just told me about his pack life, and therefore revealed an interesting incident involving his little brother. Apparently the pack had made a recent kill when the young pup wandered off. It then spiralled into a fight between a sabre pack and a dire pack. I was enthralled by it, his life seemed very interesting.

"**It must have been very dangerous. How did your brother come out of it?" **I asked curiously.

"**He was… okay. A little shaken after a scratch from a sabre, but other then that he was fine." **He reassured me, smiling gently. We were already excellent friends, he was my best friend so far in this dimension. Before I could reply to his statement, I heard talking.

"**This time tomorrow, you could be a free mammoth. Or a nanny, personally I never get tired of Peek-a-boo." **Diego watched in amusement as Devil Child pulled on Manny's eyelids. We must have been further away from the herd then when I first thought.

"**Hey, guys, look at this." **Sid wandered in front of us with two halves of an icicle on each side of his neck. It was an attempt to make it look like he had been speared through the neck, but it didn't look very convincing. He made gagging sounds, which only resulted in utter silence.

"**Sid, the tiger found a shortcut." **Manny ushered towards a cave with his trunk. It was a mountain of ice on top, and all the way out here you could see the unstable icicles hanging from the cave's roof.

Gulping, Sid dropped the icicles and stepped back from the cave. **"No thanks, I choose life." **

"**Then I suggest you take the shortcut." **Diego appeared in front of Sid with a low growl, he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"**Are you threatening me?" **Sid waved a claw in front of the tiger, but regretted it when he heard the reply.

"**Move, sloth!" **Diego shouted angrily.

A loud rumble could be heard for miles as the mountains of ice and snow upon the cave began to break apart. **"Avalanche!" **The male wolf warned, already heading towards the cave but stopping short to wait for us.

"**Wait to go, tiger." **Sid petted Diego on the head, then took off running for the cave, the rest of us following suit.

Once we were inside, the icicles jingled violently above our heads. Joy. Everyone turned to run back outside, but a wall of smooth, ice-covered rocks blocked our path. Luckily enough, the icicles stopped and resumed dripping water onto the cave floor.

"**Okay, I vote shortcut." **Manny stated, turning around and walking down a path that led deeper into the cave.

"**Be careful guys, it's easy to get lost in here." **Diego instructed a few minutes later. The cave was beginning to get interesting.

"**Very wise observation, Diego. I'll be sure not to venture away from the herd into the unknown where I have no idea what's waiting for me." **I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. The tiger just growled briefly in reply.

"**Can you keep up, please? It's hard enough to keep track of one baby." **The mammoth snapped as Sid caught up to the group, a little shaken after the run in with the frozen creatures in the ice.

The group continued on a little before Manny walked under an ice slide, which resulted in Devil Child sliding on it, then down another series of slides. The whole group jumped in after him, oh boy, I knew I shouldn't have been in such a rush to get in here. **"WHOA!" **We all shouted as we slid down a wide part of the slide, desperately trying to stop ourselves from going so fast. The next part of the slide resulted in three different columns. I was thrown into the far left column with Sid and the baby.

We slid down for a few seconds or so, but once Sid got his hands on the kid, a hole opened up beneath him and he fell down it, D.C laughing in amusement as he missed the hole. I, on the other paw, were going too fast to slow down, so ended up plummeting down the exact same hole Sid did.

Eventually Sid and I toppled on top of Manny, Sid taking the position on the mammoth's head, and me hanging on for life on his side. Diego was next to join us, digging his claws into Manny's hide to hold on. Then there was Fatal, who landed exactly in the centre of the giant.

Sid grabbed Manny's trunk and talked rapidly into it. **"Captain! Ice Berg ahead!" **

Unable to react, Manny slid onto the iceberg, which instantly began to crack. I heard a faint 'Oh no' from Diego before we all toppled down onto the next set of slides. After managing to clear away from sharp ice shards, we were into columns again. Fatal, Diego and I were on the far left, Manny and D.C in the middle, Sid on the right.

"**Uh, guys! Solid wall of ice which is probably going to hurt ahead!" **I yelled frantically, watching as Sid crashed into the wall, then Diego, me, Fatal, and finally Manny, whom somehow managed to keep D.C cradled in his trunk.

"**Yeah! Who's up for round two?" **Diego exclaimed, bursting out of the snow pile. Manny and Sid fixed him with a glare. I growled playfully at them.

"**You herbivores are no fun." **I whined, 'hmph'ing as I sat down on the snow.

"**Just tell the kid to be more careful." **Diego added, looking away at the snow.

* * *

After travelling through the remainder of the ice cave, the snow gave way to a dark cave, lit by a long abandoned fire that flickered gently. Sid gazed in awe at the cave paintings, the kid in his hands looked at them in amazement. He started to whine as the sloth came close to a painting of a smilodon pack hunting antelope.

"**Don't worry, it's okay, it's okay. The tigers are just playing tag with the antelope…" **He paused, trying to reassure D.C, **"with their teeth."**

Diego walked up behind Sid and smirked. **"Come on, Sid. Let's play tag. You're it." **He then walked off to go look at some other paintings.

"**Hehe… Sure." **Sid laughed nervously, then spotted a painting of a mammoth family.

_Oh boy, _I thought, knowing the dilemma that was about to occur.

"**Hey Manny, look, mammoths." **He said excitedly.

"**Ooh, somebody pinch me." **Manny replied sarcastically, paying no mind towards the sloth, but stopping at his next sentence.

"**Aw, he has a family. Oh look, he's playing with his kid." **Sid rambled on, looking at the drawing with interest as Manny approached.

"**See, that's your problem. You need to find a she-moth, have baby-moths. .." **The sloth continued, stopping the second time Diego snapped a 'Sid' towards him.

"**What?" **He finally asked, glaring at the sabre tooth, then seeing why Diego had stopped him. **"Oh…"**

I watched sadly as Manny relived the time of his family's death, watching his trunk slide across the baby mammoth drawing and touching the young human's hand. Letting them have their moment, I turned to Fatal, whom was sitting beside me. He was smart, he caught on that Manny's family had died without having to be told. We smiled weakly at each other, then followed after Manny and Sid as they left. Diego soon rejoined us.

This was the best time to be nervous, I knew what was coming. We had been travelling for about an hour, and Sid had already stated that his feet were sweaty. Any moment now…

"**I'm sure it's just thunder… From.. Underground?" **Sid failed miserably at reassuring matters as a loud rumble travelled under the snow beneath us. Sure enough, a huge burst of lava spewed up from the ice to our left, we needed to move, _now._

I took off running in a straight path, relieved to find out that I was actually running across the ice bridge, and not across a part that would give way to burning heat. Fatal trailed behind me, we were quick to react. Within a matter of seconds, we made it to the other side and were panting heavily, sneaking glances at the rest of the herd who were still on the ice bridge.

"**Wish granted!" **I heard Manny yell from back on the bridge, then the thud as Sid slid along the ground and hit his head on a rock. How didn't he get harmed from it? The sloth was like invincible.

Manny was next across the bridge. I was so exhausted from the run that I couldn't bother watch when Manny ran back to help Diego. I knew what happened. They would be okay. Unless something were to happen that decided otherwise.

Regaining enough energy quickly, I snapped my head back just in time to see Manny's iceblock rush into the air, then smash back down onto solid ground.

"**Manny Manny Manny, are you okay?!" **Sid rushed over to the fallen mammoth, looking him over for any wounds. The only reply was indistinct muttering.

"**What? I can't hear you." **Sid stated, concern clearly showing in his voice.

"**You're standing on my trunk." **The mammoth managed to rasp out, then gasped for air as Sid leapt off.

"**You're okay!" **He exclaimed happily.

"**Why did you do that? You could've died… trying to save me." **Diego asked, not even able to look at his saviour. I knew guilt was stabbing at him. He had just been saved by this heroic mammoth, and he was leading him to his doom by claws and fangs?

"**That's what you do in a herd. You look out for each other." **Manny managed a smile towards the tiger.

"**Well… thanks." **The sabre-tooth replied, briefly glancing at the snow.

"**I don't know about you guys, but we are the weirdest herd I have ever seen." **Sid stated, bending down to place Devil Child into Manny's trunk.

"**Agreed. Wait, is it a herd or a pack?" **Fatal asked, confused. That was the same question I was hoping to ask.

"**Well, it started out with Sid and Manny, so I guess it's a herd." **I reported, giving a smile to my two herbivore friends. It seemed so strange to befriend anyone in this strange dimension, but I was beginning to like this place, and the animals it held.

* * *

A blizzard hit later that day. Everyone was freezing. Thank god we came across a rock slab that was tall and big enough to shelter us. The wind was blowing the opposite direction, so we wouldn't get too cold.

"**How much further?" **Manny asked, looking out into the blizzard and at Half Peak.

"**Three miles." **Diego reported, before turning around to look at what we were doing.

"**I'm beat, we'll get there in the morning." **I replied matter-of-factly, laying down on the cold stone floor.

"**What are you doing?" **Fatal questioned, raising a brow as Sid bent down to pick a sharp rock up, then begin drawing something on the rock slab.

"**I'm putting sloths on the map." **He answered, stepping away from the slab to reveal a badly drawn sloth. Everyone made a face.

"**Why don't you make it realistic and draw it lying down?" **Manny suggested, walking over to Sid and taking the rock from him.

"**And make him rounder," **Diego added. Nodding, Manny drew a round stomach onto the sloth drawing. **"Perfect."**

"**Ha ha, I forgot how to laugh." **Sid snatched the rock out of Manny's trunk and began colouring in. A spark flew from the friction and landed on a bundle of sticks, a fire being born as the result. Everyone looked surprised, no one expected Sid to do that. **"I'm a genius!" **He said proudly, kissing the rock he used to make the fire.

"**From now on, you'll have to call me, 'Sid; Lord of the Flame'." **The sloth told us as he danced around the fire in a badly choreographed dance.

"**Hey, Lord of the Flame, you're tail's on fire."** Manny informed Sid, making him stop the dance and run around wildly.

Two turns around the fire and Diego sat up, reaching out for Sid and pulling him back into a pile of snow. **"Ooh, thank you! From now on, I'm gonna call you Diego…" **He trailed off, waiting for the tiger to reply.

"**Lord of Touch me and You're Dead." **He growled. Sid gasped and shrunk back, but Diego reached out and gave him a noogie. **"Nah, I'm just kidding you little knucklehead."**

"**Hey lovebirds, look at this." **Manny motioned towards Devil Child, whom was beginning to walk across the small circle of animals.

"**I don't believe it." **Fatal barked softly, smiling towards the young child as he made his way towards the yellow-furred sloth.

"**Come here you little biped, come here you little wormy-worm. Come to Uncle Sid." **The sloth ushered the child in his direction, but then D.C changed course and began heading towards Diego. **"No no no no no, this way, this way." **

"**No, no. Go to him." **Diego nodded towards Sid as the child approached, he stood up and walked back a step, but D.C fell onto Diego's front paw. **"Uh.. Okay. Good job. Keep, uh, practicing." **The sabre helped the child back to his feet as he slowly walked back over to Manny.

"**Okay, sleep time, lumpy." **Manny wrapped his trunk around the young boy and brought him back towards the fire.

"**Someone's not good with kids." **I chuckled silently.

"**I'm never around kids, okay?" **Diego replied with a tint in his voice, he was obviously thinking about Half Peak.

"**Look at that pushover." **Sid began, coming over to sit beside Diego. **"You know, Diego, I've never had a friend that would risk his life for me."**

"**Yeah, Manny's…" **He trailed off, looking for the right words. What was the heroic giant to him? A good friend. One that would be his next meal. It pained him to think of killing us, I could tell. He had grown attached to all of us in his own way. **"He's a good guy."** He finished simply.

"**Yeah, he is." **The sloth smiled, before turning on his side. **"G'night." **He yawned before falling asleep.

Diego glanced towards Half Peak, I was watching him. What would happen tomorrow? Would I be somehow involved in the fight? Would something go wrong that would actually result in the death of one of the herd members? What would happen to Fatal? The last question caught me completely off-guard, why was I so worried about him? He was just my best bud, that's all. The best bud of the herd, it had to be that. Yeah, it was just that, a great friend that would pain me if he died.

Sighing, I lay my head on my paws and glanced around the small shelter. I must have been thinking for quite a while, because everyone was asleep, and the blizzard had died down a bit. I glanced over to my side and was surprised to see Fatal sleeping so close. I didn't say I didn't like it. Smiling, I finally managed to drift off into a restless sleep.


	6. Clash of Fangs

Chapter 6; Clash of Fangs

The night had been rough. I had various nightmares, mostly about fights. The thought of the betrayal and the yet to come fight wouldn't leave me, it lingered in my mind and forced me away from much needed rest. The following morning, my eyes fluttered open, light not blinding me as I awoke behind the rock slab. I looked around, Sid, Fatal and Diego were already up and about. Manny was still sleeping.

"**Morning, boys." **I greeted them quietly. **"How early is it?"**

"**G'morning. Good to see you're awake." **Sid smiled, waving at me as he sat on a nearby rock.

"**Morning, Delusion. You were restless last night, anything wrong?" **Fatal asked, concern clearly showed in his voice. **"And it's an hour after dawn."**

_Hmm… An hour after dawn. 7:00. _**"Oh, nothing's wrong. Just nightmares, 'tis all." **I looked around and spotted Diego off to the side of the slab, staring out at Half Peak. I felt kind of guilty, watching the sabre go through all this guilt of leading us to death, when I knew that I could somehow prevent it from happening. But I couldn't… Things would be fine if nothing wrong happened.

"**We best be moving out soon if we want to catch up with the humans. Though by the looks of it, a blizzard is coming. Probably not a whole blizzard, just heavy snowfall." **Fatal told us, before walking over to Manny's sleeping figure and nudging him awake.

"**Diego…" **I barked quietly, walking up next to the tiger. **"What is it? Something has been bothering you." **I asked quietly, even though I already knew the answer. Just maybe I could get through to him to reveal the betrayal sooner, hopefully it would stop the fight.

"**It's nothing. C'mon, we better go." **He shook his head and walked back to the group.

We set out soon after, and soon enough we were in the small tunnel where Diego would reveal what had been bothering him. Fatal had told me recently about a strange smell that lingered around the area, but I tried to take his thoughts off of it.

"**Hey Diego, you frozen back there?" **Manny called over his shoulder to the tiger, who was standing before the tiny tunnel. It was time.

"**Get down!" **He finally shouted, sprinting towards us.

"**What?" **Sid asked, confused by his outburst.

"**At the bottom of Half Peak… There's an ambush, waiting for you." **He admitted, guiltily looking at the snow.

"**What do you mean 'ambush?'" **Manny growled, it took him only seconds to put two and two together. The tracking, the tricking, the proved points… It had been planned. **"You set us up…"**

Fatal snarled, instantly going into a fighting stance. He stepped in front of me. Why was he doing this? He was showing affection by protecting me? That settles it, best guy bud ever.

"**It was my job! I was supposed to get the baby, but then-" **

"**You brought us home for **_dinner__**!" **_Manny snapped angrily, pinning the tiger against the wall with his tusks held firmly against his neck.

"**I'm sorry."**

"**No you're not, not yet."**

"**Listen, I can help you!" **The pressure against his neck was unbearable. He wanted to help, but I knew it must have been hard for him. It was his own pack, and Soto was his brother. Did he really want to do this?

"**I think we should listen to him.." **I murmured quietly.

"**Stay close to Fatal and Delusion, Sid. We can fight our way out." **Manny instructed, pushing his tusks only further against the wall.

"**You can't, the packs too strong. You have to trust me." **You could see that in Diego's eyes he really had guilt for leading us here, and wanted to help, but it was hard to believe.

"**Trust you?! Why would we trust **_**you!?**_"

"**Because I'm your only chance." **At his words, Manny finally seemed to be able to believe him, and forced his tusks away. The tiger looked at each one of us, before he finally spoke up. **"Okay, here's the plan.."**

* * *

"**Surprise!" **Manny yelled as he thrust a heavy log towards three sabres, sending them falling off of a small ridge.

"**Okay, we'll pick up Sid and get out of here while we can." **Diego instructed, about to walk off when he stopped dead in his tracks at the familiar order.

"**Come on Diego, let's bring this mammoth down." **Holy crap. Soto looked so terrifying as he stalked towards us. You could see his eyes glance towards Diego every step, making sure he was stalking as well. How could Diego be so fearless against this brute?

Snarling, I leapt forward in front of the strong sabre, fangs bared threateningly. Everyone was surprised, including Fatal, he was about to leap forward, but Manny stopped him with his trunk. **"Get out of the way, brat." **Soto growled, showing no hesitation to bring me down.

"**No." **I replied simply, tail held high in dominance. Who was I kidding? This guy would tear me to shreds with only a few hits, but I don't care. Ever since the dodo attack, I've wanted to fight. It was the thrill, the adrenalin rushing through your veins as blood reached your tongue. I wasn't a human anymore, I was a wolf.

"**You'd die for a herbivore?" **This obviously surprised Soto, but nonetheless he got ready to pounce.

"**Yeah, what makes you so surprised? I'm a wolf -- I'm not afraid to die." **The statement was true, I wasn't afraid to die. As a human, I would be. But being an animal is different, especially a predator.

Oh, boy. The brute leapt at me, instantly knocking me to the ground. Shit. If I knew he was this strong I wouldn't of been so quick to rush to battle. Oh well, life lesson learned, if I even got out of this alive.

"**Delusion!" **I heard Fatal bark in concern as Soto grabbed my tail and swung me around, then releasing me. Boulder. No. Hell no! Getting over my stun as I was swung through the air, I knew why Soto did this attack. A boulder, much like the one that Diego hit in the movie, was coming forward at a fast pace. Thinking quickly, I flipped in mid-air, somehow managing to do it. This let me avoid the boulder, landing on top of it with unsteady paws. At least I avoided hitting it.

"**Oh yeah! Knew I joined cheerleading for a reason!" **I exclaimed, then saw Soto rushing for me. **"'Aye! Can't do that again, I'm a girl!" **

Just before the brute had an open opportunity to pounce on me, Diego blocked the path. **"What're you doing?!" **Soto yelled, pulling back in surprise.

"**Leave the wolf alone, Soto." **Diego growled in reply. Well, this was going worse then I thought.

Glancing to his side, Soto saw Lenny and Oscar walk up beside him. He nodded, then walked towards Diego. **"Fine, I'll take you down first." **

The two began to circle, then went into a full-on fight. Diego could hold his own for a few minutes, and anyway, as much as I wanted to help for the sabre to avoid life threatening injuries, I couldn't. They were both clashing with force and speed, if I got in there I'd be killed. Turning my attention back to Manny and Fatal, I quickly hurried over to join the stand-off with the other sabres.

"**You okay?" **Fatal asked in concern as I made it to them. Nodding in reply, I began to snap at Oscar, but not actually biting him, just snapping the air near him. Hope he didn't decide to fight me, I was still weak and getting used to fighting. Plus, he was a freakin' sabre.

Suddenly Soto appeared, holy hell, did he really manage to take care of Diego _**that **_fast? This was turning into a living nightmare. The brute was about to leap, oh no… I tore my eyes away just in time. It was too late to prevent life-threatening injury. I heard the splash of snow, Diego, just like in the movie, had jumped in front to take the blow. I heard the whine of D.C as Sid rounded the corner, terrified at the sight of all the blood. I heard Manny growling and throwing Soto into a wall with his tusks. And I heard the jingle of icicles as they fell upon the brute.

Finally I turned my head back to the herd, I forgot completely that it was a movie. I forgot that if nothing went wrong Diego would be fine. I forgot that he'd survive. It was too much to take over the whole dilemma of the past three days. The pool of blood around his injury made it almost impossible to believe that anyone could survive it.

"**Diego…" **I sighed quietly, gently walking over to join the herd as we said our possibly final good byes.

After a minute or less of speaking, the sabre finally couldn't take it. I didn't blame him. It was amazing he survived the first hit in the first place. His eyes closed, and the only thing that moved was his fur blowing gently in the wind. The remaining herd looked at each other, then Fatal and I nodded. Our muzzles turned to the sky and maw parted, a mournful song filling the night sky. The howl was pure, not made of territorial rights, but of memorial rights. I knew there was still a chance of survival, but it was slim.

As our howls drowned into the night sky, I couldn't help but glance at Soto. Mistake. Wish I never decided to look over there. He wasn't dead. Tearing my eyes away before the group could notice, I quickly told them to go on. **"Guys, go ahead. I'm going to stay here for a while…" **They didn't need to be told twice. They nodded and moved on. I waited for them to get out of sight, which took a while because they were still handling with Diego's 'death', before making my move. Soon, they were out of sight.

"**How could you do it?" **I asked him with no hesitation. If he didn't die from the stab wounds, then he obviously wouldn't be able to fight. The icicles missed vital areas, one was in his ribs, one just grazing his neck fur, and one on his rear. It wasn't enough to kill him.

"**He betrayed us. What choice did I have?" **The brute replied, eyes narrowed, yet you could see slight guilt if you looked deep enough.

"**Your own brother, Soto. He had reason to go against you. He made friends in my little group. Brother against Brother is like Mate against Mate. You're relatives in the future, lions, are advanced if they have brothers. They rule a pride as one, and they stick together through thick and thin. I thought it would be the same with sabre-tooth's. Apparently not." **I could feel tears coming to my eyes. No, don't cry. You're not a human anymore. You have to be strong as a wolf. I physically kicked myself.

"**How do you know this?" **He asked, quite surprised that I could know of such a future.

"**I'm originally human. Please-- Don't judge me for it. I come from the future, 20,000 years away. Humans are much more advanced, we talk now, we do maths, we created our own peaceful civilization with schools to teach young ones. How some of us still continue to hunt is a mystery to me. Your other relatives, the tigers, we, as much as I hate to admit it, hunt them too. But most of us have resigned from it, people are now arrested for illegal hunting of animals." **I tried to explain best I could, but it was tough. **"Back to the matter at hand… We make something called movies. It's something that is thrilling, tragic, humorous, and other things. Companies make them for amusement for us to watch, but they can sometimes be tragic. One, for example, is Wolf's Rain. Not a movie, but a series."**

"**You really do seem to be from the future, seeing as you know all this. One can't come up with something like that unless they spent half their life planning it." **I could see Soto was starting to soften, but he could be tricking me. I nodded with a slight smile, then continued.

"**Well, one such movie is **_**Ice Age. **_**One which follows the exact events ever since you instructed Diego to get the baby, well, a bit before that actually. It was the third scene… I think. Anyway, while I was watching it, sometime near the end, precisely when they were returning the youngster to his tribe, my video recorder started to play up. An earthquake then began to happen, but I was confused, we don't get earthquakes in Australia. Something then flickered on the television, the box where we watch such stuff. Flames came out," **I explained, trying to keep it as simple as possible by telling him what such things were. It was strange, keeping all this secret, then the enemy, Soto, being the first one to reveal it to. **"and the flames began to spin into a circle. It looked like a portal. Before I could investigate, everything went black. I woke up near the human camp, and I was greeted by Sid, the sloth. And, I'm somehow a wolf. I have to tell you though, Diego tried hard to get that kid. At least you can give him credit for that." **I finally finished the tale, doubting that the tiger would believe me.

"**You sure you didn't just dream that?" **He asked after a few moments of silence.

"**No. Here's some human stuff which is impossible for an animal to know, wolves become more and more domesticated over the years, breeding into different species. We now have dogs, which are far descendents. We still have wild wolves though." **That was one point, what about another…. **"Ah, one such dog is the Golden Retriever! A golden dog with floppy ears and a bushy tail. They love to swim and are loyal to their owners. I have one named Lucky. He's very affectionate and a big softy. You could mistake him for a sabre at a distance." **

What else…?

"**Cats evolve into different species, too! I have a black cat named Shadow. Hey, I was young when I named him, don't judge me. I believe he is a Bombay cat. His mother and father were stays, so he's pretty damn feisty. Your relatives, the tigers, are beautiful creatures. They're my second favourite animal. They have an orange-shaded pelt with black stripes. Beautiful creatures. My favourite sub-species would have to be the Siberian Tiger. Have I established my point?"**

"**Yeah, you've made it. It's still hard to believe all that, though. Could you help me get these icicles out?" **He asked, though I could see he wasn't going to hurt me. For a second, I actually thought of him as a cat version of Lucky.

Nodding, I got to my paws and walked over, examining the wounds. **"I have to warn you, it'll hurt. The wounds might get infected, but hopefully they have a certain type of leaf around here…" **Trailing off, my jaws closed around one of the icicles, it was the one just against his neck. I pulled back hard yet steady, carefully moving it. It wouldn't of hurt that much, it was just a graze, the other two might be harder though… Gently placing my jaws around the next icicle, I managed to pull it out with only a wince from Soto. He knew how to keep pain hidden, alright. Soon enough, I got the last one out.

"**How do you feel?" **I asked, carefully observing the wounds. They didn't look too deep, but I couldn't be sure.

"**Fine, now. Thanks to you. Mind telling me your name?" **The sabre gently rose to his paws, but he wasn't really in condition to be travelling, in this case even standing, so he sat down on the snow, thoughts running through his mind by the looks of it.

"**My real name is Tian. But my wolf name, and the name I think I'll be with from now on, is Delusion." **I stated, then my gaze drifted over to where Diego should have been lying, but.. He's gone. Wow, up already. **"Wow, he's up faster then I thought. Must have been an extremely long time lapse during the movie, now where the hell is he? Wonder how long he's been awake…." **Well, he survived! I'm definitely happy now, I just wonder how long he'd been conscious.

"**Long enough to hear at least half of your tale. So you're seriously a human, huh?" **The voice came out of the shadows of a nearby slab. Can't believe I didn't notice he was there that whole time.

"**Diego, you're ok! Tackle hug!" **I exclaimed, rushing over to him, and, like I said, tackle hug.

"**Whoa!" **He yelled, falling into the snow.

"**That's only half of what Sid's going to do to you. Hah! Let me just say you'll have a headache after it." **I smirked, leaping off of him and wagging my tail happily. This was the best thing that had happened so far, Diego surviving the attack from Soto. But now I was feeling awkward; What would they do to each other?

"… **What do mean 'headache'? Knowing Sid, that can't be good." **

Just as I thought, seconds later the two brothers turned their attention to each other. Well… This would be fun.

* * *

.......

.....

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Don't judge me! D I couldn't kill my favourite villain. It's hard to come across a movie with a character evil by reason, and Soto's evil by reason. Well, Tian finally confesses. I've written about... four/three chapters in a single day? Yeah, I'm obsessed, xD Next chapter up in either two hours time, or tomorrow.


	7. Reunion

**DISCLAIMER: **I do _not _own the Ice Age movies, only Delusion and Lone Fatalis. Ice Age and it's sequels are credited to Blue Sky.

This is the last chapter involving bold for talking, and terribly sorry for the long wait. I was banned from the computer for five days, having to write the story on a linepad and then writing it on Microsoft Word. If nothing gets in the way of writing, the next chapter should be up in roughly two days.

Enjoy~

Chapter 7; Reunion

Before one of them could even talk, the trio of males came around the corner, obviously oblivious to us in the shadows. Smirking, I glanced at Diego, who just raised a brow in confusion at my smirk.

"**Yo Sid! C'mere!" **I barked, and Sid obediently waddled over, unknowing of Soto's presence as he slid deeper into the shadows, not wanting to be seen at the moment.

"**Diego! You're okay! You're okay!" **Sid yelled happily as he ran over to the tiger at a rather fast speed, tackling him, hugging him, and then punching him on the head in joy.

"**Ow! " **Diego shook his head to rid of the brief daze and greeted Manny and Fatal as they came over, unaware of Soto, whom was still watching them, waiting for the right time to make his presence known.

"**You're alive! Welcome back, bud." **Fatal smiled and wagged his tail.

"**Welcome back, partner. How do you feel?" **Manny asked, joining the group in the reunion.

"**Uh… Tough question. Like I've been jumping inside a log all day." **Hmm… I could alter that.

"**AKA like a gargoyle that slept inside a tumble dryer." **I perked up, I had to use the phrase. I did it whenever someone asked me how I feel, and couldn't resist altering Diego's answer.

"**Gargoyle?" **Fatal asked, confused.

"**Mythical Beast." **I replied with a smirk. When was Soto going to come out? He was obviously on-edge being around the group after he almost killed Diego and tried to kill everyone else, but he had changed. I could sense that. **"Uhh… Guys, there's a little someone I'd like you to get introduced to properl--" **I was cut off. The same blue circle that had transported me here appeared again.

"**Lucky, get your butt hauled over here! Look, Mandy's got the right idea!" **We heard yelling through the portal.. Wait, who was that? The voice was male, and it wasn't my dad's. What the…?

"**Don't get started on me, cat. I can still bite you and kill you any moment." **Another male voice said. What. The. Hell?

"**Oh, yes. You can. But, I may remind you that you're a wuss and you don't have the guts to kill. I can also shred you to bits. Point made. Now get through it!" **The attitude… Shadow? **"Fine, brat. I'll push Mandy through."**

"**Hey! Remember I went you yesterday, so don't push it, blacky." **A female voice snarled. The whole herd, including Soto, whom was still in the shadows, looked on in awe, no one able to move, we were all in shock. **"Hehe… I didn't mean it. Aye! I'm a girl, stop -- WHOA!" **The portal made a weird noise as a white blur came speeding out of it, landing roughly in the snow.

"**Did you see that?! That was awesome! Now get your ass through it, man!" **The voice continued on the other side, but I was too shocked by the figure in the snow to pay any mind.

"**Holy crap! Shadow, if I live through this, I'm getting mother to strap you to the Christmas tree and then throw you into the pool! Now get in here and protect me from your fanged ancestors!" **It was a small, white dog. Female. Her eyes were deep brown, and her fur was curled. It was none other then my moodle (Maltese x Mini Poodle), Mandy. Had my pets really found the portal in my room? And why could I understand them?

"**Shadow, go help her!" **

"**Why do I have to? You're the muscle."**

"**You're the claws. Plus, you said it yourself, I'm a wuss." **I could tell my Golden Retriever was smirking behind the portal.

"**This is what I get for living with dogs." **The portal made the same sound as a second figure went through. It was black. It was definitely Shadow!

"**Holy shit! Lucky, come help us man!" **The cat whined as he saw Diego, Fatal and I.

"**S-Shadow?! Mandy?!" **I stuttered, unable to hide the shock.

"**Who the beluga are -- Tian?!"** Shadow blinked, obviously shocked. He then jumped on my back and began scratching at me.

"**Your mother is worried sick about you! Get your butt in there!" **He growled, trying to force me to the portal.

"**Don't think I won't take this as opportunity to take a bite out of you, payback for all the times you've scratched me for no reason." **I snapped irritably, glaring at the brave cat.

"**Oh, I shiver to think about it. Prior I will scratch you to death once you're in your true form." **Shadow smirked, laying on my back and out of reach.

"**Ha ha, very funny. I never knew you spoke with such verbal language." **I huffed, sitting down and letting the cat slide down my back into the snow.

"**What does he mean by Tian, Delusion? How does he know you? What does mean by 'true form'?" **Manny asked, glaring at me. He was suspicious. Before I could reply, Shadow piped in.

"**Who the beluga is Delusion?" **He asked, brow raised.

"**Maybe it's time you told them…" **Soto stepped out of the shadows, finally. Manny instantly took fighting stances along with Fatal, Sid ran over to me and cowered behind me.

"**Ah, he's alive! Protect me, Delusion!" **Sid wailed.

"**What am I, chopped liver?" **Diego asked with sarcasm.

"**No offence, but you're injured. Can't really do anything." **Sid pointed out, then going back to cowering.

"**I'm not going to harm you. Delusion told me of her past. Care to take the honour?" **Soto asked, before I nodded and began to tell the three how I had told Soto. I was nervous as Manny glared at me, I know humans killed his family… But I was trustworthy enough.

"**You're a human? How come you never told us?!" **Manny finally snapped, lowering his tusks and ready to ram into me.

"**Wait! I never meant any harm! I'm only a teenager in human form. I may be human truly, but I'm not like Neanderthals…" **I trailed off, only to be cut short as Lucky finally ventured through the portal.

"**Aye! Wolves, mammoth, sabres, sloth..? I think I'm gonna go lay down…" **He barked fearfully.

"**Wuss…." **Shadow huffed. **"Tian, are you coming, or what?" **He asked as the three pets began to walk towards the portal. What was I going to do? What if the portal never appeared again? I was torn between two worlds.

"**I… Shadow, I'm sorry… Mandy, Lucky, take care of yourselves. Shadow, try restrain killing them." **I had made my choice. I wanted to stay.

Sighing, Mandy walked over to me and licked my knee. **"As you wish. Remember us, we'll try tell mother. Farewell, Tian. I hope we meet in the future." **With her final goodbye, the young dog leapt back through the portal.

"**Is that really you, Tian? Take care of yourself, we'll have your room and various movies to remember you by." **Lucky nuzzled me, before disappearing through the portal.

"**Well, this is awkward. Being the cat I am, I must say Oh! Look at the time. Must be off." **Shadow mewed, trying to walk off when I placed a paw on his tail. **"Okay, okay. We'll miss you and all. Hehe… I dibs your Christmas presents." **Chuckling, I lifted my paw and watched him go as he dashed into the portal.

Just as Shadow disappeared into the blue mass, it closed. I turned back to the herd, which all looked at me, confused. **"Really, he's a good cat once you get to know him." **I informed, smiling.

"**Ahem." **Sid broke the strange silence, pointing to Soto.

Before anyone could reply, a strange and familiar voice reached the herd's ears.

"**Hey, where's Soto?" **It was definitely Oscar. Strangely enough, you could hear Zeke and Lenny join him.

"**Eesh," **Soto sighed, obviously annoyed. **"I'm over here, dimwits." **He snapped.

"**Whoa, you survived! Anyway, onto the ma-- Okay, I'm confused. You're alive. Diego's alive. Everyone's alive. Sitting down, talking..? We all saw **_**you **_**and** _**Diego **_**die. Impacts don't lie." **The talker was clearly Zeke as he ventured over to us, though backing off at Manny's glare.

"**Even though I'm injured, I won't hesitate to kick you to the other side of Glacier Pass." **Diego growled at the hyperactive sabre.

"**Zeke, we're not after anyone anymore. Also, I'm quitting the pack." **Soto informed, irritably glaring at Zeke.

"**Wow, you've changed. Oh, and seeing as you're both fatally injured, and there's three of us," **Oscar was next to talk, a smirk was plastered across his face. **"We'll be taking the mammoth and be on our way. The wolves pose no threat, we can easily kill them."**

"**Hey!" **I snapped, though knew it was true. Lenny and Zeke were rather strong, but Oscar was medium strength-wise, it'd be easy for them to get us over and done with.

"**What makes you think you can get rid of us so easily?" **Fatal snarled, taking up a fighting stance. **"Come on, one-on-one, right now." **He challenged.

"**Fatal--" **I began, but was cut short by his reply.

"**I'm not letting them touch anyone, like you said before, we're wolves, we're not afraid to die." **

"**Fine then. Oi, female wolf, take Zeke on." **Oscar growled, stalking off with his match for Fatal.

"**Ahem. I'll put this in a term that even you can understand. Female wolf has name." **I snapped, but knew it was no use. Well, this was my end. Joy. Sighing, I came away from the group and steadily moved over to Zeke. He didn't look very strong, but looks can often be deceiving.

Wait… Who was Lenny going after? Either no one, or Soto and Diego. Dang it.

Fatal and Oscar had already begun the fight, you could hear scuffling in the snow. If only I could get away from Zeke and help the male, if we took a single sabre on with both of us we might stand a chance. Sid was hanging onto Manny for dear life. And… great, just as I thought, Lenny was going after Soto and Diego. Oversized bloody brat.

"**Okay, let's get this over and done with. I have a mammoth to kill." **My opponent snarled, starting to circle me. He as ready to fight and kill, which made every muscle in my body twitch in excitement. Why was I so eager to battle?

I was just larger then him in stature, but he was stronger, though relatively a midget in sabre-size.

"**Don't be so quick to decide on that, we can all hold our own for as long as needed." **I pulled my lips back into a frightening snarl, trying to buy time with a conversation until someone could come to my aid. I wanted to ask Manny for help, but that would show I was weak. Plus, he needed to watch the fight between the three tigers, just in case Lenny overpowered the two. (Which was likely)

"**Wolves aren't as powerful as sabres, and we can easily take care of the two traitors. So, yeah, we win." **Zeke smirked, staring me down and ready to pounce. After a few moments, he did.

The impact was like getting run over by a car, instantly forcing me to the soft ground beneath my paws. Soto was one thing, but I was saved in time to prevent a full attack. Zeke was another, and I had no saviour. If things took a turn for the worst, I was on my own. The sabre had me pinned, I had to struggle free before fangs pierced my throat. His claws dug into my stiff shoulders, rendering my front arms almost useless at the given time. His claws sunk deeper, quickly drawing warm blood, cooled by the icy wind. The weight of my attacker was unbearable. I couldn't fight back.

I had chosen to stay. Chosen to live in the Ice Age world alongside great friends that risked their own lives for one another. Did I choose wrongly? No. I would eventually die in this world, this reflected reality, like everyone does. But I wasn't going to give up on life right now, I couldn't end it here. I needed to fight back and live to battle another day.

"**Not so tough without talking, huh?" **The sabre taunted, starting to bring his face down to my throat. Growling loudly, I forced my hind legs upwards, including enough strength to kick him powerfully in the gut. The weight was suddenly lifted off of my stiff and cold body. What the? Had I seriously kicked him off? Apparently, yes. But the fight was far from over. My shoulders ached, even though the bleeding was minor.

"**You were saying?"** I smirked, watching as Zeke scrambled to his paws a few metres away.

Suddenly, all I could feel was pain. Fangs were clamped firmly around my neck. Pain. Who was my attacker? I struggled to catch a glimpse, and regretted the choice. Lenny. He couldn't have won… In a quick blur, the fangs were loosened and I was free from the death grip, warm blood trickling down my black neck.

"**Stay with your own opponent!" **Soto. Thank goodness. Lenny must of snuck away when Zeke was thrown off. Now I had to fight alone again, though wounded. Life's a bunch of flowers, isn't it?

I leapt at the small sabre and managed a firm grip on his back, claws digging in everywhere they could. I had to win, or risk all of my friends dying. Finally, my claws hit their mark. Zeke whined and ran off, scratched and bleeding badly. I had won the fight with pure luck, but not without a few injuries inflicted, not to mention a horrible wound on my neck. One stupid sabre down, two to go.

"**Fatal!" **I turned my attention to the fight between Oscar and Fatal. My friend was fighting a highly motivated killer; and loosing. Conquering Zeke was just pure luck because of his small size, Oscar was roughly the height of Diego, which made the fight only more difficult on my side. I had to act fast.

"**Pick on someone your own size!" **Snarling, I rammed into the smilodon, forcing him to the ground. Fatal was gathering himself from a recent attack, shaking the daze off and rushing to my aid. If we could just beat Oscar, then the whole herd would be safe. Lenny would run off. We'd all be fine. Before that daydream could take place, we needed to make it happen. Relentless attacks were pondered onto all three of us, Oscar clearly loosing. Finally, he turned tail and ran. Yes! Lenny wouldn't be a problem. But the wounds inflicted on my body were. If not treated, they would possibly become infected.

When I turned my attention back on the others, Lenny was no where to be seen. He must of decided that four predators against one was a horrible fate for the one some, so escaped. Diego and Soto had only a few extra scratches from their previous injuries, nothing too serious.

"**Everyone okay?" **Manny asked as Fatal and I re-joined the others, observing carefully.

"**Well, besides a most likely fatal wound to my neck, yeah, everything's fine and dandy." **I growled sarcastically. Blood gently trickled down my pelt, leaving a stain of crimson blood on the white surface of snow.

"**We should find a cave to spend the night, we can treat our wounds there. I know of some herbal plants in the area, if prepared correctly we should be able to avoid infection." **Fatal joined the conversation, wincing slightly as he licked a bite wound on his paw.

"**There's a cave in the mountain a mile or so from here. It's a good refuge from the weather." **Diego suggested. Everyone seemed to agree with the idea, so we began the short journey towards the cave. What was Soto going to do? Barely anyone paid mind to his presence.

"**Hey, what's wrong? You should be happy, you lived, so what are you upset about?" **I asked curiously yet in an understanding tone, dropping back from the group to speak to Soto, whom was bringing up the rear and looking off into the distance. He really didn't seem half bad.

"**The only reason I'm following you is to have my wounds treated, then see to it that I never run into your 'herd' again. Your friends are nice, but I can't handle being in such a strange pack, especially seeing as basically everyone besides you is avoiding me. What's the point? Maybe if that whole first fight thing never happened, I'd join." **He replied a few moments later.

_Well, we'll see about that. I'll change your mind. _I thought, before walking ahead to join up with everyone else. Once the light finally settled beneath the distant hills, we reached a large cave. Long awaited rest, finally.


	8. Understanding

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Ice Age or it's characters, I only own Fatal and Delusion/Tian.

Chapter 8; Understanding

After a few minutes of settling down inside the cave, everyone was exhausted. You could clearly see everyone agitated at the presence of the tiger that tried to kill them, especially Diego. But for some reason, no one tried to force Soto out. Either they were too puckered out, or were slightly starting to trust him. Thoughtfully, I tried to think of a way that could get us involved in a conversation and let the herd have a good time after such a tiring day.

"Hey, Lord of the Flames, why don't you get a fire started for us?" I asked, smirking in Sid's direction, though even the slightest movement sent pain through my body. He was laying on a small pile of rocks, all smooth and sloth-sized, and on his back, though clearly not asleep.

"Ugh, fine." The sloth groaned as he pulled himself up from his small sleeping station and began to scurry about in a large pile of leaves near the wall of the cave, trying to gather a few sticks to begin the birth of the fire.

"'Lord of the Flames?'" Soto asked, confused at the yellow-furred herbivore's title.

"I wouldn't ask." I replied flatly, watching in amusement as Sid placed a pile of sticks on the rocky floor, then beginning to scurry around for a blunt rock. After a moment or so, he came out of the leaf pile with a tool perfect for lighting the flame.

"And Lord of the Flames is successful in yet another fire!" Sid grinned goofily as he scraped the rock down the cave wall, the sparks flying onto the pile of sticks. Soon enough, a small yet warm fire flickered gently on the wooden tools.

Fatal, rising from his spot on the other side of the cave, slowly made his way over to me and settled near my side, before rasping his tongue over one of my wounds. I remember reading in a book that wolf and dog saliva helped heal and cleanse injuries, but it didn't give a complete guarantee that infection wouldn't crawl in. Understanding his intentions, I just let him do it, while everyone looked at us weirdly.

"Ooh, Delusion and Fatal sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Sid cooed, before beginning hysterical laughter.

"Sid, canine saliva helps wounds heal, you moron." I growled playfully, making the sloth shrug and frown.

"Well, we best be getting some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a tough day. We have to head South before the freezing weather catches up. Plus, we haven't eaten for two days already. By the time we catch up to the other animals, I won't be surprised if we're on the verge of dying of starvation. We need all the energy we have if we want to make a decently sized trip tomorrow." Fatal explained, withdrawing from the licking session and laying his dark grey head on his black paws.

"We have two of those dodo carcasses left back at that small crater, if scavengers haven't taken them we should be fine until we reach the migratory animals." Diego finally joined in on the conversation, laying well away from Soto, obviously on-edge around the larger sabre.

"That reminds me, don't kill anything in front of us again." Manny remarked, remembering a few days ago at the dodo camp.

"What? Carnivores got to eat too." I huffed, before lowering my head and resting it on my paws, closing my eyes. "Night." I muttered, before falling into a light sleep.

* * *

"SID!" I was awakened to the sound of a heavy beast chasing after a small brat. Manny was ticked off about something, and, as always, Sid was behind it.

Yawning, I slowly sat up and gazed around. Everyone was awake now, almost every predator awakened by the sound. Diego, by the looks of it, had been up quite a while and was watching in amusement at the chase scene. "What did he do _now_?" I asked with emphasis on 'now', limping over to the sabre-tooth.

"Threw a snowball at Manny's head when he was still asleep." Diego reported, before the other two predators joined us.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" Soto questioned. He looked a lot better then last night, his wounds had closed and were starting to heal. He was still weak, but would be back to normal in a week or so. I actually wouldn't mind making friends with him, he just acted like an older Diego.

"Attempting to stop them would just wind up in more chaos and involvement," Fatal whispered, before looking over at me. "Care to take the honour?"

Muttering a few words under my breath, I rose to my paws and trotted over to the two quarrelling animals. Manny was now bonking Sid on the head with his trunk. "Okay, okay. Enough. Sid's had his morning beating." I ordered, ready to have a verbal fight with the giant.

"You stay out of this." Manny instructed, poking me in the side with his trunk.

"Hey, you can't do that to a girl!" I argued, growling.

"You're not of my species. It doesn't count." The mammoth glared, his attention turning on me. Taking this as an opportunity, Sid scurried over to hide behind Diego and Fatal.

"It counts."

"It doesn't."

"Counts."

"Doesn't"

"It counts!"

"Doesn't!"

"Doesn't!" I yelled, trying to confuse the bundle of poofy fur by saying what he wanted to hear.

"Does!" He fell for it. Realizing what he just said, the mammoth smacked me on the back with his trunk. What can I say? It was his favourite weapon.

"Ow! Don't hit me with your trunk!" I snarled, ready to get involved in a playful tussle.

"See?" I heard Fatal mutter, obviously proving his point towards Soto.

"It's on!" Manny charged towards me, but I managed to roll out of the way, smirking. Counter-attacking, I managed to jump onto his tail and then climb up onto his back, moving as fast as I could to avoid tusks or a trunk. Before I could leap off of him, the mammoth's trunk came up and wrapped around my waist, quickly pulling me off. Twirling his trunk around to his face so I could see it, he smirked, pleased with his victory.

I scoffed. "Fine, fine, you win. Now put me down." Obeying, Manny gently placed me back on the ground as his trunk let go of it's hold.

"Now that we're over the morning's verbal and physical fight, can we start travelling?" Fatal shifted his paws, wanting to start their attempt to catch up to the migrating animals before it got any later.

Luckily enough, my wounds had closed and were healed greatly thanks to Fatal's licking, so it helped me from getting injured in the tussle. Peeking out of the cave, I could see the sun was just rising over the horizon. Fatal was right, we needed to get moving, now. The flame from the previous night was still gently flickering, it would go out soon. Returning to the inside of our shelter, I motioned my head outside.

"He's right, we need to get going. If we begin our journey now, there's a high chance we'll make it to the small crater by midnight." I explained, turning around and walking into warm sunlight, washing over my silky coat in the ever-lighting sky. Sid was the next out, followed by the other members of the herd.

An ear-piercing cry sounded from above. My eyes drifted towards the now blue sky, the sun three quarters out from beyond the hills. The screech came from a hawk, eagerly circling the land, waiting for a meal to come it's way. _How I would love wings right now… _I thought, starting to trot along a snow-covered path that led South.

"We have a long journey ahead, and Sid, I'm not carrying you." Manny announced, giving a short glare to the sloth, warning him not to whine about a lost ride. Shrinking back, Sid scurried over to me and looked over his shoulder at the mammoth, frowning.

"So stubborn…" I heard him mutter.

"Sid, we have to keep energy for the trip too, you know?" Before I could make a sly comeback to the sloth, Fatal joined us at the front of the herd and glared at him.

In reply, Sid just huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, a frown still on his face.

After a few hours of walking, the dead silence was killing me. Hmm… What could I do to engage in a small talk? From sniffing the air, I could tell a water source was still about ten miles off, so I could take their minds off of walking until we reached it. Well, a possibility for conversation would be human-related items. The herd had actually taken the news much better then I thought, and Sid wasn't showing any fear whatsoever. What about songs?

"You know what I'd die for right now?" I asked, loudly enough for the whole herd to hear.

"What?" Everyone looked at me, while saying the word in unison.

"My Ipod." I replied, not bothering to stop to watch their puzzled expressions. "What's a good band? Linkin Park, Three Doors Down, hmm…" I trailed off, thinking of a song that everyone might like. Songs were my way of taking thoughts off of something tiring and passing the time, but you needed certain songs for a specific mood. Well, I had two songs in mind that could possibly make time fly. Time of Dying, and Get out Alive. Both were from a band called Three Days Grace, my second favourite band.

"Ipod?" Diego finally asked, confused.

"An item that plays songs on it. Bands and singers go to studios to get their songs and voices recorded, then they publish it onto a CD. It's hard to become a band member or singer and actually get recorded though." I continued to think, but the same songs were stuck in my head. "Oh! I know one. In the future there is a feline named a Tiger, they have many subspecies. Personally, my favourite is a Siberian Tiger. They're my second favourite animal, closely rivalling the Gray Wolf. To my knowledge, there's only one song about them, and boy, is it interesting." Yep, and that song is no other then Eye of The Tiger.

"And that song would be?" Fatal raised a brow, maximum confused with the future customs.

"Eye of The Tiger, great song. Not a soft one, not too rocky, just my taste. Oh, by the way, Diego and Soto, you're actually called Smilodons. But Sabre-Toothed cat and tiger are perfectly fine as well." I informed, looking over my shoulder towards the two felines.

_Risin' up, back on the street,_

_Did my time, took my chances, _

_Went the distance now I'm back on my feet_

_Just a man and his will to survive,_

_So many times, it happens too fast,_

_You trade your passion for glory_

_Don't loose your grip on the dreams of the past,_

_You must fight just to keep them alive_

_It's the Eye of the Tiger _

_It's the thrill of the fight,_

_Rising up to the challenge of our rival,_

_And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night_

_And he's watching us all in the eye of the tiger_

_Face to face_

_Out in the heat_

_Hanging tough_

_Stayin' hungry_

_They stack the odds still we take to the street_

_For the kill with the skill to survive_

_It's the eye of the tiger_

_It's the thrill of the fight,_

_Risin' up to the challenge of our rival,_

_And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night_

_And he's watching us all in the eye of the tiger_

_Risin' up, straight to the top_

_Had the guts, got the glory_

_Went the distance now I'm not gonna stop,_

_Just a man and his will to survive._

"And it basically repeats the chorus after that." I tried to do the song as closely as possible to what it would of sounded like, but it was tough without the music. "Well, another song…. Hmm… Get out Alive, possibly?" It was strange with only talking on this long journey. Time spent with the herd only explained that a crying baby was starting to be a rather often occurrence. In truth, I kind of missed the little brat.

"Hey!" A loud shout snapped me out of my thoughts. All eyes drifted towards a snowy hill on our left, where a newcomer stood. Wolf. Male. He held a smirk, but a large tree shaded over his coat, hiding his true appearance. "What's a pretty young thing like you travelling with these…" He paused to glance over at the male herd members, "Oddities?" The wolf trotted down the hill, the shade moving slyly over his pelt before stopping as he came into the sunlight. He was pure white, with only a few blotches of light grey spilled over his coat. Dark green eyes gazed at us wearily, before his gaze stopped on me.

Before anyone could speak, a second male wolf appeared on the other side of our path. This one was a dark tan with piercing yellow eyes. What the hell was going on?

"What the hell do you want?!" I growled towards them, ears against my skull in both fear and anger.

"Delusion, you're scent…. Oh my god, I completely forgot…" Fatal trailed off, shock clearly expressing. "It's breeding season! That's why they're here."

"What?! I'm not looking for a mate right now and you should be thanking the heavens that I'm not tearing you to shreds. Back off!" The two males shrank back at my sudden outburst as I glared at them, but apparently they weren't loosing a female so quickly.

"Aw, come on baby, you know you want one." The white wolf cooed, striding his way towards me as I attempted to walk off with the herd following suit.

"Don't call me baby, pervert!" I snarled, picking up the pace and then galloping off. I didn't know where I was going, and frankly I didn't care. After a minute or so of running, I came to a small tree to rest under. If the two wolves decided to follow, I'd do my best to kill them repeatedly and make sure they got front-row seats to hell. I lay down gently under the leaf-baring tree, panting slowly.

I had only been there a few minutes before a voice interrupted the silence. "Hey, you okay? The herd's gone on, they said they would stop at the lake a few miles from here." The voice was clearly Fatal. Thank goodness. If I was to hang around any male of my species, it was him.

"Yeah, it's just… I- I don't know. How long does Breeding Season last? I can't handle wolves stalking the herd. Plus, you mate for life, right? How can they expect to just waltz up and win my heart with words?" I sighed, turning to look at the grey wolf.

"It only lasts for three months. You'll get used to it within a few days. When I was with my pack I learned a lot about mating pairs, so you can always come to me for advice on others." He smiled warmly. That familiar smile. I had come to love it over the days, he was a great companion.

"Okay, thanks. I understand. Come on, let's get back to the others." I nodded appreciatively, rising to my paws and skulking off with Fatal at my side.

Soon enough, we reached our small family-figure herd. Everyone gave a wide berth to me, even Sid, they must of somehow understood what I was going through; Only three days of being a wolf and it was already breeding season. I have to tell you, it's not a walk in the park. I was glad to see that Soto was starting to become accepted by the others, Diego and Manny were a tiny bit agitated still, couldn't blame them. We were gathered around a small river leading into a lake, where we could rest briefly and quench our thirst.

Reaching the bank of the clear liquid's flowing prison, I bent down and lapped at the cool water. It was nice to be refreshed after a long day. After a few seconds, I lifted my muzzle out of the water and glanced at the others. The sun was high in the sky by now, roughly midday. The herd was resting beneath a large tree, big enough for everyone to be spread out without invading each other's privacy. They wanted rest, I could understand that. In truth, I wanted to have a breather too.

One word could only explain this day. A word that everyone seemed to take too, knowing what their friends wanted. A single word; Understanding.

* * *

Rather shortish chapter. Oh well, SCHOOL HOLIDAYS! That means many a new updates over six weeks.

**AN: _Eye of the Tiger_** belongs to _Survivor_.


	9. Newcomer

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Ice Age, only Delusion/Tian, Fatal and Singe.

Chapter 9; Newcomer

The wind blew gently, rustling our fur. We had decided to take a longer then expected break at this small oasis, but would start travelling again in a few minutes. Sid had gone off to explore the area on the other side of the river, taking no precautions danger-wise despite Fatal's protest. Eh, he'd be okay. Being so comical and never getting hurt is just an advantage of being Sid. Just as the silence approached our group again, a scream filled the air.

"AHHHHHH! Bad kitty, bad kitty! Get down!" The desperate voice was no other then Sid's. Sheesh, what got his tail in a knot? The sloth suddenly came running out of the protective trees and leapt into the river, speedily swimming to the other side where the herd lay, seeking help. Just as he reached the bank, he looked over his shoulder only to see a tawny coat angrily pacing back and forth on the other bank.

It was a Smilodon. Female. She looked rather strong for a female, even though hunger loss deprived her of nutrition, it clearly showed on her dulling pelt. Her piercing eyes were solid blue, showing no mercy. Fangs were shorter then those of Diego and Soto, though were still as powerful. Her tail was slightly longer then the males, while her coat was lighter.

"Aw, what's the matter? Is the big bad kitty afraid of a little water?" Sid mocked, making sure to stay in the safety of the liquid. Didn't he know teasing a sabre-tooth would just lead to a funeral? Specifically, his? The female stopped pacing and glared at the sloth, before a smirk crossed her lips. _Oh, this'll be good. _Lowering into a crouching position, she erupted from the dirt-covered bank, landing with a loud **splash **only a metre from her yellow-furred prey. "AHHHHH!" Sid screamed, barely making it to the bank and pulling himself up, then running over to the herd.

"Sid, you don't tease a smilodon, especially a hungry female." I scolded, growling at him.

"Hah, you need a mammoth to protect you?" The feline leapt onto the bank, shaking her light pelt while the water droplets fell to the ground. "You **are **just as pathetic as I thought." Whoa, she was basically fearless. Four predators and a mammoth who could easily rip her to shreds, and she just stands her ground, a mocking smirk on her features. "Why don't you move aside, fatty, and give me a meal. Or do I have to fight for it?" By 'fatty' she was referring to Manny, whom Sid was cowering behind.

In response, the mammoth just glared, before charging forward. Oh, this would result in many a blood splatter… Luckily, it was only a mock charge. He stopped short and snorted. "State your name, cat."

"Do not refer to me in that manner, brat. But if matters will bargain on my side, Singe of the North." The female snarled, stepping forward as a challenge. "Who are _you?_"

Accepting the challenge and not giving any hesitation of the matter, the mammoth charged towards the cocky female, but this time it wasn't a mock. Singe stood her ground, waiting for the right moment. It was obvious she stood no chance against such a large and powerful animal, but I admired her courage for attempting. A few metres from the ivory tusks, the sabre leapt into the air, soaring over Manny's head and landing behind him.

"Not such a bad speed you got on you." She smirked, then lunged for Sid, whom was now in the open. She had taken this as an opportunity because Manny would never reach the two in time before the sloth would be killed, but she hadn't noticed one thing. Snarling, I pounced, barrelling into her and knocking both of us over. My injuries from the previous fight were now at risk of being re-opened, but I couldn't let Sid die. "Wait, wait a second. You, a wolf, are helping them, herbivores? The north really has gotten crazy." She chuckled, before looking over to the other predators. "Well, there goes a free meal. See you later, mutt."

Before I could reply to her apparent insult, the female leapt over me and escaped onto a path leading to the South.

"Well, I never knew a feline could be so…" Fatal trailed off, thinking of a word to describe her.

"Arrogant? Hot-headed? Jeez, this is the beginning of High School all over again." A short growl emitted from the depths of my throat, before I looked over at Sid. "That was a close one. You're just lucky she didn't jump in the water straight away, otherwise you would have been toast."

"Come on, we better get going." Diego ordered, returning to our journey. Everyone followed suit, still thinking about the strange encounter with the female, who called herself Singe.

* * *

We had been walking for roughly an hour when the first signs of night began to crowd the sky. The darkness descended over the land, bringing a familiar and unwelcoming scent with it.

"Oh, look who it is. Don't you have something to fight?" I asked gingerly a few minutes down the trail. Sitting in front of the herd was no other then Singe.

"Oh, excuse me for taking a break on the way down South. God, what is up with you wolves?" The sabre snarled in reply, her blue eyes narrowed threateningly. She seemed to be licking her pelt, and the fresh scent of blood explained why.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Soto stepped forward, his feline eyesight easily capturing the sight of fresh wounds inflicted on her.

"If you _must _know, I got in a fight with three idiotic sabres. What's _your _excuse for your own injuries?" Singe lowered her head and growled, obviously irritated. Everyone was startled by her reply.

"Did these sabres happen to be male? One small, one mediumly sized, and one scimitar cat?" I cocked my head. No, they couldn't of come South and survived, could they…?

"How'd you know?" She, too, was startled. Oh no…

"For your knowledge, I suggest you join our parade for a night or two, until your own wounds are healed." Fatal chimed in.

"Do I get a say in this?" Singe raised a brow, annoyed.

"No." Diego replied, joining the conversation.

"If she tries to eat me again, she's out." Sid scoffed, frowning.

Sighing, the female rose to her paws and padded over to the herd. "Seeing as I have no choice in the matter, hurry up and walk," She instructed, growling, "I don't want to be stuck in this… 'group' for long." She took a spot next to Diego and Soto, walking to the left of my side. "Anyway, it'd be a nicer pleasure if I could address you by your names."

"Manny."

"Sid."

"Diego."

"Soto."

"Lone Fatalis. Just call me Fatal."

"And I'm Delusion."

"Err… Okay, I'll try to remember everyone's name… If you don't mind me asking, why on Earth are four carnivores travelling with herbivores?" Singe asked us, obviously confused with the strange customs of the herd.

"It's a long story." Diego answered plainly.

"Long nights are for long stories." Singe replied with a smirk. Heh, I liked her, she was like a rebelling teenager.

"Where do we begin?" Soto chuckled, looking over at the ones who started the journey.

"Well, I'll start with my side of the story first." Manny announced. We each agreed to tell the story when it came to our turns, so we recited the whole thing without hesitation. "It all started only four days ago…"

* * *

"Wow, seems like you've all been through a lot." Singe finally stated at the end of our tale.

The night was dark, and the air was chilly. The stars twinkled brightly up in their black abyss, while the moon led us down the trail with it's shimmering light. We were almost at the crater where the herd' very first resting spot was, the dodo carcass' scent already reached our noses.

"We told you our story, now let us hear yours." I remarked, looking over at the smilodon.

"Well, it's no where near as interesting as yours, but I guess I'll give you a rough explanation…"

* * *

White snowflakes gently flickered from the sky, falling onto a small pond and letting the liquid dissolve it. Bloodshed littered the once beautiful snow, but now it was only covered in stains of crimson blood. A battle had recently occurred, one of spears versus claws.

"Dad, please! Come on!" The desperate cry echoed through the empty clearing as a young feline stood in shock beside a larger smilodon. It was too late. Her pack had lost the fight against the human camp, she was the only survivor. After minutes of mourning, she fled into the undergrowth, her tears absorbing into her damp fur. How could this happen? In just a few hours, the young cub's life had turned into chaos. Everyone was dead. Her brothers, her sisters, her parents… Everyone.

Singe had to learn to live on her own now, with no protection from her siblings or the comforting warmth of her loving parents. All she would find from them now is cold flesh. Being so young, her only prey revolved around the small fish that darted under the surface of blue water. There was just one problem; Cats hated water.

After many failed attempts, Singe caught her first fish. Living on her own for so long had altered her social skills, everyone she met, she wanted one thing to do with them; Fight. Doing so had resulted in many reckless situations where her life was hanging on a thread, but her family's tough blood allowed her to survive, but barely.

While her fishing skill still followed into the teenage years, the female learned to allow water to her advantage in hunts. She wouldn't mind taking a swim on a hot day to cool herself off every now and then. Finally, she reached young adulthood. Her prey began to spiral into bigger and bigger animals, soon she tried to take on a mammoth, but failed. After a few months, she found the herd of strange friends. Her life could only choose it's own path from then on.

* * *

"Well, we're here." A few minutes after Singe's life story ended, we came across the small crater that sheltered us a few nights ago. Rest was well welcomed that night.

* * *

Okay, from here on, no more OC's will be added to the story... For a VERY long time at least. xD


	10. Unwelcome Visitors

Chapter 10; Unwelcome Visitors

Everyone was still sleeping peacefully by the time I jerked awake. Something wasn't right. In my short time of being a four-legged carnivore, I had acknowledged the scent of smell to my advantage. We had only been asleep for an hour, why did it have to be such a short rest? I couldn't determine whom exactly the scents belonged to, but instinct clearly told me to wake the others and keep moving.

"Fatal," I whispered, gently stalking towards the sleeping figure of the wolf. He stirred at my soft voice, but I had to nudge him softly for him to awaken fully.

"Delusion? What is calling you to wake me at such a late hour?" The male asked softly, concern showing in his voice for my wellbeing. His scents would have been clogged from sleep, as he had not awakened by the strange presence, so he wouldn't be able to smell my problems right now.

"Help me wake the others, something is wrong. We need to keep moving." I encouraged, before going to wake Sid. Once that sloth was up, everyone would be up. "Wake up you low-life bin of garbage." He was resting on the same rock as a few nights ago, so I gingerly flicked him off.

"Hey! What was that for?" The herbivore hissed, a frown crossing his features.

"Sid, we're moving out." Before I could reply, Manny quickly walked over to us. Judging by the eagerness in his quickened pace, he could feel the prescence as well.

"What?!" The startled cry woke the three sabres, who were sleeping a few metres away from the herd. "Why? It's night!" Sid continued to protest.

"Shh!" I snapped, bonking him on the head with a paw. "I'll carry you, just be quiet." Groaning, the sloth climbed onto my back and lay down, almost instantly falling asleep again. Surprisingly, he wasn't as heavy as looks depicted.

"You know, I don't know how you two can still stand each other after what happened." Singe stated a few minutes later as we trotted down a clearly marked path, looking at the two male sabres, who were walking at the back of the herd.

"We may have been enemies for three days, but brotherhood is never broken." Soto replied, earning startled replies from Manny, Sid and Fatal.

"You're _brothers?!" _They exclaimed in unison, stopping briefly in shock.

"How is that such a shock?" Diego cut in, looking at the three males.

"How you exchanged conversation with each other back at Half Peak, no one would have been able to even guess that." Fatal explained, continuing to walk along the trail.

"Any interesting cub-hood tales to tell?" Sid smirked, looking back at the two tigers, who exchanged nervous glances.

"Uh-- No. None at all." Diego answered hesitantly.

"Aw, come on. Tell us." The sloth pleaded, sitting upon my back.

"I remember once Diego tried to take on a vulture, when he was only… What, five months?" Soto chuckled at the memory, then began the tale. "It ended up with him being stuck up a tree." The group burst into laughter, all besides Diego.

"Well, I remember when I was stronger then you in cub-hood." He sneered, leaping onto his brother and engaging in a playful tussle.

"This is amusing." Manny remarked as the group stopped to watch the two males have a brief play-fight, rolling around in the snow.

"Hey, wolves verse sabres!" I barked playfully, leaping in-between the two and beginning to fight with them myself. Soon, Fatal joined. Singe quickly began to play as well, a friendlier side to her starting to shine towards us. "Unfair! We're outnumbered!" I accused, quickly being pinned by Diego.

"You should of thought of that before taking us on." Singe smirked, having Fatal pinned beneath her. Pleased with her victory, the slim female leapt off of the wolf and landed lightly in the knee-deep snow, grinning.

"We should get going. It was a fun event while it happened, but that strange scent is urging us on." Fatal stated, rising to his paws and shaking his pelt, small snowflakes flinging onto the ground.

"As much as I hate to end this, he's right, so…" My black lips pulled back into a smirk as I glanced at the sabre above me. Hehe. I forced my hind legs upwards, in doing so making the male fly off. "Never be off guard, my feline companion." I chuckled, pulling myself to my paws and grinning at the smilodon.

* * *

The rays of early morning peeked over the horizon, along with a dull sky, soon it would be a beautiful blue with puffy clouds. By this time, the herd had made it back to the trail where the migratory animals first started.

"So… Can we start running? I'm starved." What? I hadn't eaten for a long time. What about those dodo carcasses, you say? The scent was obviously predatory, so we had no choice but to abandon them.

"Yeah, go ahead guys." Manny replied, which resulted in Sid being bucked off my back and into the dirt.

"Hey!" He cried, righting himself and brushing the dirt off of his fur.

"Sorry, sloth. If I don't eat something soon I might just take a bite out of you!" I teased, a smirk plastered on my muzzle, before I took off down the trail, the other carnivores following.

"So, what's on the menu?" Singe called from behind, obviously falling back from Fatal and I, so were the two males.

"Ack, sorry, forgot wolves were faster." I laughed nervously, before slowing a few paces.

"Starts are extremely slow, and they often bother to travel in family groups." Fatal slowed, waiting for everyone to catch up. "My guess is one such group will be trailing far behind. I choose a feast of Starts."

An hour later, our small pack slowed to a walk, the scent of fresh meat lingered in the air. Following the smell, we came across a sight that wished we never came. Four Starts had been killed in a clearing, with three unwelcome visitors feasting on them.

"Oi! What are you doing here!?" I snarled, shoving through low ferns and bursting into the clearing. Singe was next out.

"Why are the guys staying back?" I whispered to her, confused at why the males hadn't come out yet.

"They want to stay hidden. If these bastards try fight us they're coming out." The female replied in a hush whisper, fangs bared at the other sabres, who had noticed our presence.

"Oh, look who it is, the two bitches from before." Oscar growled, drawing the attention of Zeke and Lenny.

"Ahem, I was the one you randomly ambushed!" Singe shot back, obviously dying to fight him. Everyone wanted those carcasses, even though scavenging was never a priority such predators took too. When there was scarce food, it would change the mind of any carnivore searching for a free meal.

"Why's the female wolf with you? And where's your little protectors?" Zeke taunted, smirking in my direction.

"God, what the hell is so difficult for you three idiots to understand?! Female wolf has name. And they're NOT my protectors, I can hold my own in a fight!" That's it. I lunged forward, tackling Zeke. We rolled around in the snow, madly clawing at each other. The sound of Lenny and Oscar fighting Singe wasn't a pleasant one, she was outnumbered, and would easily die if things got out of hand.

Zeke wasn't as strong as the previous fight; Newly inflicted wounds from the fight with Singe yesterday slowed him down. Perking my ears to make sure the tigress was okay, I was relieved to hear the three males had come out of hiding and were almost effortlessly turning the tables.

"Retreat!" I heard Lenny shout, which made Zeke thrust me into the snow and escape into the undergrowth. Ouch. Oh well, least I wasn't hit into a tree.

"You guys Okay?" Diego asked, looking Singe and I over. Her body was covered in cuts, but they were nothing that couldn't heal. I was fine as well, just a few claw marks and a headache.

"Yeah, thanks for helping. Who were those guys, anyway?" The tigress glanced at the other's escape route, glaring as if they were still there, then turned her attention back on us.

"From our old pack. Zeke, Oscar and Lenny. I doubt they'll try fight us again." Soto explained, then turned towards the carcasses of the small, grey animals. "We best hurry and eat, Manny and Sid will be close by now."

* * *

It didn't take us long to finish the Start carcasses. Though it looked like a small portion, it was actually quite filling. Only a few minutes later, Manny was into the clearing, a whining Sid following close behind.

"Hey, what happened?" The sloth asked, seeing our newly formed injuries.

"Lenny, Zeke and Oscar, that's what happened." Diego stated, stretching.

"Let's just hope they don't come back… We better get going." Manny began to walk South again, followed by everyone else.

* * *

Short-ish chapter. The next chapter will be the last one before moving into Ice Age 2. Yay~


	11. Effort Paid Off

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Ice Age, I only own Fatal, Delusion/Tian, and Singe.

Chapter 11; Effort Paid Off

It had been a few days since the small battle with the three sabres. Everyone was well rested, not to mention thirst quenched and well-fed. That's right, we caught up to the migrating animals. Oh yeah! Partly because we ran half the way, partly because Sid managed to wriggle a ride from one of us every now and then. The weather was much warmer down South, even though light snowfall wasn't out of the question. The sun was perched high in the sky, barely a cloud in the light blue abyss.

The herd was laying lazily around a small pond, watching a few herbivores splashing around. Lucky for them I wasn't hungry. I'd learned how to hunt rather powerfully over the days, thanks to help from my other predatory friends. As for the fact of fighting, I had tussled with Singe or Fatal every day, getting used to how rough such battles could expand in to.

Breeding Season was going quite well. I had barely seen any male wolves around, and those who had been in my sight were occupied with their own females, obviously all besides Fatal. I had considered finding a mate only once, the answer I came up with; No. Even if I was willing to settle down and start a family, it wouldn't be until another year or so.

Consumed by my own thoughts, I hadn't heard Sid sneak up behind me until it was too late. A hard shove forced me to fall into the pond, black fur becoming damp as the warm water soaked into it. Oh, that sloth was so gonna get it! Breaking the surface of the water, I gasped for air and tread water, turning around to see Sid laughing, but stopping when he saw my icy gaze.

"Um…" He rubbed the back of his neck with a paw, "Boo?" Laughing nervously, the sloth gulped as my lips curled back into a menacing snarl. Erupting out of the water, I landed only centimetres away, a cloud of dirt puffing up as my paws hit the ground with a loud _thud. _"AHHHHH!" Sid ran over to Singe and dived behind her, cowering. In his loud outburst, he also awakened her from a small catnap.

"Ugh, what'd he do now?" She sighed, glaring at the sloth with her stone blue eyes, claws slowly becoming unsheathed.

"I'll give you three guesses," My eyes directed back onto Sid, whom was nervously poking out his head from behind the Sabre-tooth, "After I rip him to shreds!"

The male's yelp of shock as I leapt over Singe and tackled him drew the attention of the rest of the herd. They walked over and watched in amusement as Sid desperately tried to wriggle out of my grasp.

"This is the most entertaining event occurring since the hunt we embarked on yesterday." Fatal smirked, his grey tail flicking in entertainment.

"What'd the sloth do?" Manny huffed, disappointed as I withdrew from the struggle and trotted to the others.

"Oh, I'll show you by making payback." Smirking, I stalked back over to the helpless victim.

"Huh?" Was all he managed to say before my strong jaws clamped down on Sid's tail, spinning around and releasing him as a well-directed aim made him fall into the pond.

"That." I said simply, grinning at my victory, even through such a small and harmless herbivore.

"Well, I'm going out hunting. With so many predators you have to get something big every two days." Diego announced, beginning to trot into the tree line.

"I'll come too." Singe called, sprinting to catch up with the male. She had been around him a lot lately. Ooh, did she have a little crush?

"Seems like she's starting to… What do I say, like him?" I questioned gently, walking over to Soto, who was taking a drink from the small body of water.

"Before we split off from our birth pack, he was always popular with the females. He's never actually been around one in adulthood though." The male lifted his head from the water and stretched, he didn't seem to mind.

"Well, I'm going to go torment Sid. See you."

* * *

Later that afternoon, the two sabres returned with a freshly killed bush-antlered deer buck. Sensing their arrival within the perimeter of a mile, I ushered the two herbivores away as to not see the carnage. After leading them away, I returned to the pond to see my friends gouging on the carcass.

"Hey, could have waited for me!" I barked sheepishly, sprinting over to the dead deer and joining the predators on the feast.

"Where'd you ditch the duo?" Singe asked, lifting her head with a blood-stained muzzle from her eating spot.

"Roughly half a kilometre away in a bundle of trees, there's some food for them to eat." I explained, ripping into the flesh on the neck of the deer, crunching down on a small bone that mingled in with the meat. "Wow, this is some nice deer. Where'd you kill it?"

"There's a herd of them a few miles from here." Diego answered, his voice barely muffled from the meat in his jaws.

* * *

About an hour later, the carcass was stripped down to the bones, everyone well-fed from the meal. Now the herd was settling down for a night's rest, when Sid suddenly came waddling over to me, smirking.

"Admit it, you like him." He accused, dropping down to the ground half a metre away from my laying figure.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Honestly, I had no idea what the bloody sloth was babbling on about. Every night it was a new topic; Female sloths, how I kill innocent creatures, female sloths, accusing someone of something, female sloths.

"Come on, I know you do." Ugh, he was trying to pry answers off of me. Normal Sid behaviour.

"Seriously, Sid. What the hell are you on about?" My eyes narrowed as I pulled myself into a sitting position. Did this, possibly, have something to do with Fatal?

"You and Fatal. I know you like him."

"Sid, I don't. He's more of a best friend to me." It was true. I may like him slightly, but I felt more of him as a best friend. Even if I liked him to a true extent, I wouldn't so abruptly rush into such a relationship. I'd only known him for a week and a half.

"Whatever." Huffing, Sid walked off again to get some shut-eye.

Rolling my eyes at the sloth's attempt, I lay my head down and slowly drifted into a light sleep.

* * *

It had been two months since that night, marking the sudden end of a cold winter, so bringing with it Dire wolf Breeding Season. The warmer weather was a joy, and the beauty of flowers and butterflies were plentiful. The attention Diego was getting from Singe was obvious that she liked him, to a fellow gender anyway. I was female too, and therefore knew female behaviour. Males on the other hand could be so clueless.

Fatal and I hadn't changed being best friends, but it was nice to see him still showing timely affection after Breeding Season. I was unsure if this was behaviour male wolves showed to females when in a pack, or he was slightly starting to like me as well. I paid no heed to the thought, even if we became mates eventually; It wouldn't be for what… five years tops? I wasn't even certain if I'd ever want a mate, not to mention Fatal; He was much more of a best friend figure.

Back to the exact present time, I couldn't wait for the upcoming adventure. It was Spring, and the numerous talking of the Water Park made me wish time would fly. The two possums, Crash and Eddie, along with their big sister, Ellie, would be meeting with us soon. I hadn't told anyone that their arrival was near, I hadn't even told them about the trio. I just played dumb when someone asked what else would await them. I answered plainly; 'I don't know. There's only one movie, and it ends after you give Devil Child back to the humans.' Of course that was a big fat lie, but I didn't want to interfere with their lives.

And so the first adventure of my new Ice Age life drawed to a close, but a new one awaited only a day away. One question still lingered at the back of my mind, taunting me; 'There's four new group members, something's bound to happen that changes the course of the adventure…. Right?'

* * *

Finally into Ice Age 2, yipee~ The next chapter should be up in... Hopefully, tomorrow.


	12. Deathly News

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Ice Age, only Delusion/Tian, Fatal, and Singe.

**A/N: **And so we are finally into Ice Age 2, along with some personal.. conflicts for the two girls of the herd.

Chapter 12; Deathly News

The various yells of joy echoed through the large water park, along with the splashes of water as animals slid down natural ice slides and fell into the pools. Ah, I could live here forever. Alas, three months and the water park would vanish until Spring next year; Unless the flood knocked the frighteningly natural slides to their doom before warmer weather melted them.

"Enjoying the sun, are we?" Light footfalls came up beside me, as I lay with paws crossed, staring blankly out at one of the pools. Singe's voice snapped me out of deep thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, hey Singe. Yeah, who couldn't?" I grinned briefly in reply, waiting for her to tell me of goings on as she usually did.

"I can see you want me to spill the beans of today's news, huh?" The sabre-tooth lay down on the edge of the water, letting her paws dangle in the cool liquid. "Nothing much of interest," she began, her expression clearly thoughtful, "Sid's up to his usual antics, this time with kids. Soto's been basically napping the whole day. I'm not sure where Diego and Manny are, probably making sure Sid doesn't get himself into trouble. I believe I saw Fatal in a clearing half a mile from here, either hunting or just spending 'alone time'."

"Speaking of Fatal and Sid," I paused, wondering if I should tell her. Singe had always been there, that one to share secrets with. Obviously because she was female, and because she cared. But could I tell her what had been bothering me, even if it was such a… _little _problem? "The bloody sloth hasn't shut up about Fatal."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Every two nights or so, he randomly comes up to me and just says; 'Admit it, you like him'. I've had to make it a habit of sleeping away from everyone else at those high-risk points." I sighed, still blankly staring out at the water.

"You mean, Sid's pretty much obsessed with proving that you like Fatal, even if he doesn't know the complete facts?" She theorized, cocking her head slightly.

"Yeah," Rising to my paws, I gave a brief stretch, then continued talking so I could go find the others. "I mean, I might like him a _tiny _bit, but not enough to go into an actual relationship. Keep this from Sid, can you?"

"Sure, when have I ever blurted something to Sid about a secret? You know me." Giving a slight smile, the feline leapt into the water and swum around, trying to cool off from the heat.

"Thanks," I murmured, before racing off towards the others, a faint scent trail guiding me there.

* * *

Upon finally reaching the herd, I was quite amused to hear; _'Okay, I'm gonna jump on the count of three.' _Panting, I shoved trough the crowd just in time to join in the chant that Diego and Soto were joining in on, among with the other animals;

Jump! Jump! Jump!

Manny, of course, ruined our fun by directing a glare in our direction. I just huffed in reply.

"You better stay here." I instructed to Soto as the other two members of the herd made their way up the ice ledges that lined the glacier surrounding the valley, where Sid slowly began to count on his perch at the top of the Eviscerator; A giant slide that would kill him if he attempted such a stunt. It was actually just a huge waterfall mixed in with the details of an ice slide; Oh well, who cared about that when we needed to save the sloth's butt? Again…

"Sid, what the hell are you doing?" I snapped angrily as we finally made our way to the top of the glacier. Sid's number; Two and three one thousandths.

"I'm going to be the first one to jump off the Eviscerator, and then you guys will have to start showing me some respect." He hissed, turning from his perch only briefly, then turning back to the slide, a slight look of concern over his features.

_Respect. All about bloody respect! _If we were alone, or with just Diego, I seriously would have leapt forward and pushed Sid off of the fricken thing. But of course, I couldn't, that would lead to who knows how many errors in the future.

"The only respect you're gonna get if you jump is respect from the dead." Manny informed, irritated.

"Come on Manny, he's not that stupid," At Diego's comment, Sid readied himself to jump. "But I've been wrong before."

"Hell yeah." I whispered as Manny charged forward and curled his trunk around the sloth's waist just as he jumped, catching him before anything could happen.

But, the ice being so slippery, the mammoth started to slide back. In his slippery sliding, he charged right into Diego and I, sending us skidding into the open ice, muttering a few 'Oof!'s.

Mumbling under my breath, I pulled myself to stand up and glanced around at the ice. It was cracking. Diego quickly ran back to the others, avoiding the water. But, I was too far out to run back. Dang. The ice continued to crack beneath my paws, making me brace for incoming cold water. As the ice gave way, I didn't expect the water to be _that _damn cold! With a startled yelp, I crashed into the dark liquid, my veins turning cold as the freezing water absorbed into my black fur. Crashing through the surface, I made my way back to land, almost going under once due to the cold numbing my features. Once I was a few metres away, I saw Fatal, Soto and Singe joining the other three.

Digging my claws into the ice, I scrambled out, shivering. "That is bloody cold! Cold water, cold water! I'm getting you back for this, Manny." Luckily, the warmth of the air quickly warmed my blood.

"Come on, we have to go tell them." Ignoring my outburst completely, the mammoth stared out at the vast expanse of closing ocean, quickly turning to return to the oblivious animals below.

"Maybe we could all rapidly evolve into water creatures." Sid suggested, only to get a sarcastic remark from Diego.

"That's genius, Sid."

"Call me Squid." Sid informed, grabbing a piece of ice and examining it as we all turned to follow Manny.

"Hey, you okay?" Fatal asked, showing complete concern in his voice. I must of still been shivering, because the male ventured over and walked beside me, sharing his body heat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Singe smirk.

_Oh, like you don't like someone. _I growled mentally at her smirk, before giving Fatal a warm smile in gratitude. "I'm fine, just a bit cold."

"Jeez, this whole thing's a piece of junk." Sid grumbled, jumping twice on the bed of ice, which caused a rumble from the ground. Uh-oh. Right on cue, the ice gave way and we were sliding down the glacier wall, everyone piled on Manny's back.

The ride was short-lived. Next thing I knew, Manny was sliding across the large body of water at the bottom of the glacier and beaching on the snow. Leaping off of the mammoth's right tusk, I beat him to his line.

"You have to listen to him, he's right about the flood!"

Startled at the information, the armadillo who had been informing everyone on the flood information (And whom was also a horrible sales… animal.), Fast Tony, couldn't help but saying; "I am? Yes, that's right! I am!"

"You're the ones who said there wasn't going to be a flood, why should we listen to you?" A male deer questioned, doubt showing in the way he spoke.

"Because we saw what's up there!" Manny chimed in, growing agitated by the un-agreeing animals.

His comment erupted into laughter from the other animals, but they were cut short by a predatory voice. "Flood's real all right, and it's comin' fast. Look around, you're in a bowl. Bowl's gonna fill up. Ain't no way out."

The voice's owner belonged to a vulture, one that almost smirked at the thought of a flood. He was perched on a dead tree overlooking the majority of animals that were now whimpering about their predicement. "Unless you make it to the end of the valley, there's a boat - It can save you." The sudden information seemed to lighten their spirits. "But ya'll better hurry, grounds melting, walls tumbling, rocks crumbling. Survive that, and you'll be racing the water. 'Cause in three days time, it's gonna hit the geyser fields… Boom!"

Everyone shrunk back from the vulture's last word, knowing it meant _'The flood is then unleashed!.' _

"There is some good news, though." He continued, a smirk covering his beak. "The more of you die, the better I eat." Gasps echoed through the crowd, a beaver even looked like it almost fainted. "Hey, I didn't say it was good news for you." With that last sentence said, the vulture took to the sky, flying off while leaving confused and terrified animals behind.

"He must have been a pleasure to have in class." Sid joked. At this cue moment, a huge piece of ice fell off the glacier and came plummeting to Earth. In it's wake lay a water slide, which it knocked down easily. The slide then continued to almost squish a baby beaver playing with a few sticks, but his father ushered him away quickly.

"You heard the scary vulture, let's move out." Manny instructed. Not needing to be told twice, the animals quickly moved away from the destroyed water park.

"Manny, you really think there's a boat?" Diego asked, obviously hating the idea of having to get wet, and possibly drown.

"In three days time, this place is going to be underwater. We should at least see if the vulture's words are true." Soto quickly answered, then followed the others as they began to move towards the Spring plains.

Once Diego had called for Manny to re-join the group after showing interest in a certain iceberg, Singe fell back from the others to talk to me, as I was bringing up the rear. Her features held a mischievous smirk.

"He's showing some interest in you." She taunted, her blue eyes glittering in the sun light.

"Oh come on, I know you like someone as well." I growled lowly, hoping to catch her off-guard with the statement.

"W-what?" She stuttered, stopping briefly, then quickly hurrying to catch up with me. "What do you mean?"

"Singe, I can tell when one is having a crush. I know you like Diego. If you keep my secret safe, I'll keep yours." I tried to make a deal with her. With a nod and sigh, she continued walking.

"Ooh, are we having two couples about to formed?" Sid. The brat! Glaring at him, I had realised he'd secretly snuck back from the others to listen in on our _private _conversation.

Snarling, I lowered into a crouch and pounced on him, effortlessly pinning the helpless sloth. "Is eavesdropping a habit of yours?!" My outburst caught the attention of the male members.

"What the hell did he do?" Soto was first to question it, raising a brow at the struggling sloth.

"Eavsedropping on a _Private _conversation." Singe replied, glaring at Sid. She couldn't have let her secret slip to such a big mouth.

"At least I found out that you both--" He was cut short as I cupped a paw over his mouth, my eyes reading 'I seriously won't hesitate to rip my claws into your face.'

"Say it and I'll rip your intestines out." I warned, lips curling back to reveal rows of dagger-like fangs.

Cowering, the sloth reached up and pushed my paw away, luckily only getting up to frown. "Fine, fine. If you don't want me involved in your lo--" Before he could say the rest of the word, and sentence ('Love life'), I tackled him again.

"Try saying it again and I'll rip your intestines out and feed the rest of you to a pride of lions!" I snarled, retreating from the frightened sloth and giving a glance at Singe, telling her to come join me in _private _at the back of the herd. But this time we were ready to do something if Sid tried to get in on it again. With our ears, we were also listening to the males ahead; frightened that Sid would eventually let his mouth slip to reveal what we wished would stay secret for like.. Eight more years.

* * *

Yes, so it is revealed Delusion likes Fatal. Kind of. And, as usual, Sid is always eavesdropping on his friends conversation. He hooked up Manny and Ellie, I wonder if he's a born matchmaker... hmm... And yes, with every new female sabre-tooth comes a love interest in another. Anyway... Hope you enjoyed it. Eesh, can't believe it's such a mediumly-long-not-really chapter that only had two scenes of the movie. Meh. Chapter 13 should hopefully be up tomorrow, or in two days time.


	13. The Possum Trio

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Ice Age, only Delusion/Tian, Fatal, and Singe.

Crash, Eddie and Ellie are finally making an appearence. Hurrah!

Chapter 13; The Possum Trio

We had only been walking for an hour when Sid decided to bring up the fact of Manny being the last mammoth. "Manny! Manny!" He exclaimed, rushing over to the mammoth as they walked at the front of the herd. The sloth's mouth was stained with blueberry juice from the berries he had been eating, and still had three leftover in his paw. "I just heard you were going extinct." He stuffed another blueberry into his mouth, so his voice was muffled.

"Hey, if you ever master hygiene, try working on sensitivity." Diego snapped as he passed the two, followed by Singe and Soto.

"I'm not going extinct!" Manny barked, only to have a family group of brown anteaters stop and stare.

"Look kids, the last mammoth." The father told the youngsters, while they chorused 'wow'. "Probably won't see another one of those again." After that statement, the family moved on.

Sid smiled as if he had just won a bet. "See?"

Sighing in aggravation, I hit the back of the sloth's head with my chocolate coated paw.

"Ow! Why'd you do that?!"

"Sid, just shut up." Singe growled, stopping briefly to direct a glare at said sloth.

"Fine, fine." He mumbled, huffing.

_An hour later…_

"Someday, when you've gone extinct," Sid began to sing, "When you make a stink--"

"Shut up, Sid." Manny snapped. I felt sorry for the poor guy, Sid's singing was aggravating all six herd members (Discounting Sid, 'course), but Manny was suffering the worst; As he was subject to the song.

"Okay." The sloth shrugged, obviously not planning on being silent for long.

_Later that night…_

"Stop, hey hey! What's that sound? All the mammoths are in the grooound!" Sid stopped on the hill and lifted his arms, drawing them apart as if showing the sun going down.

Soto looked over his shoulder at the sloth and snarled. "Stop singing, Sid."

"Any idea how long we have to endure on Sid's singing?" Fatal whispered, growling slightly.

"I'd say one more song." I replied, looking up at the moon.

_The next day…._

"If your species will continue clap your hands," Sid clapped his hands with a grin, "If your species will-"

"Sid, I will fall on you again and this time I will kill you." Manny threatened, stopping to glare at Sid.

"Okay. Someone doesn't like the classics." Sid huffed, luckily staying silent for good.

"It's the words that are hurtful, Sid. Not the singing." The tigress explained as she trotted over to the sloth, a slight glare on her features.

The herd continued to walk along the dirt path with antelope leaping along in the grass, while the other travelling animals quickened their pace to get to the boat; One day was down.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was the private conversation about that you would destroy Sid if he passed it on?" Uh-oh. The male wolf slowed his pace to walk by my side. He must of saw me blush underneath my black fur, "You do not have to answer, I was just wondering."

"I'd rather not talk about it right now, sorry." Fatal nodded in understandment.

"What if I am the last mammoth?" Manny asked, almost completely to himself. He walked off of the trail to look at a bunch of icicles hanging off of a high rock. His reflection showed in all of them; as if many mammoths were replicated.

"But Manny, look on the bright side, you have us!" Sid stated, giving a big smile up at the mammoth. Singe passed by, rolling her eyes. Soto was next, glaring at the yellow-furred sloth. Fatal just growled. I scoffed.

"Not your most persuasive argument, Sid." Diego pointed out, walking past the two herbivores and then stopping when a loud sound filled the air. It sounded like a mammoth call. "Mammoths?"

"I knew I couldn't be the last one!" Manny exclaimed excitedly, turning in the direction of the sound. In his haste, his tusk bumped into Sid, which made the sloth cling on. "I felt it in my gut!" With the last outburst, he took off into the forest, knocking a few trees into an unstable position.

Startled, I looked at the other four predators. With exchanged glances, we took off after the running mammoth. Turning a corner, Manny burst through a bunch of bushes, which forced us smaller animals to leap over them. In Manny's abrupt stop at the edge of the tiny clearing, Sid was thrown off and skidded over the dirt, landing in front of a dandelion with a log behind it. Suddenly, a burst of air sped through the log, blowing yellow petals off of the flower and into Sid's face. Making a disgusted face as a stench quickly followed, the sloth hurried back to the herd.

"Ew, don't that put the stink in extinction!" He waved his hand in front of his nose.

"Sorry," the source of the sound apologised, whom was sitting atop the log. "My stomach hates me."

AH! Megatherium. AKA Giant Ground Sloth. Such animals were vegetarian, yes, but they weren't strictly fed on plants and leaves. Their diet also consisted on carrion, so they scavenged off of other's kills. What made that part bad was that… It didn't wait for the killers to eat their fill. They were huge, if I remember correctly roughly ten feet tall. Massive claws used for defending were easily seen. An adult megatherium was virtually indestructible. A single hit could kill any of us, well, obviously besides Manny. This one looked placid enough, but you can never tell.

Sadly enough, the source of the call was only a stinky Giant Ground Sloth. Sighing, Manny began to walk off.

"Manny..?" Fatal called softly.

"I need to… uh, be alone for a while. You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." The mammoth replied sadly.

Motioning my head to Singe, Soto and Fatal, I then looked over at Manny. They caught my drift and went to try cheer him up.

"One truly is the loneliest number…" Sid remarked, then began to walk off.

"Ow! Hey!" Fifteen seconds later, Diego was hit with a small pebble. Well, the two possum brothers were here.

"These work great!" One of the brothers commented as they hung by their tails from a nearby tree, weilding small bamboo-like sticks, where a small rock could be put inside and then blown out. Growling, Diego leapt up the tree, swiping a paw at the two brothers, but they dodged. Scampering out of the tree, one leapt down a small ridge into a hole-filled clearing while the other (Eddie, I assume) boldly yelled "Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!" before dropping down the ridge as well.

"I'll get 'em!" Sid yelled, running over to the ridge. Exchanging odd glances, Diego and I quickly rushed over to see him being pelted with pebbles. Quietly, we jumped down and snuck around the back of the holes, where Crash and Eddie were snickering.

"Boo." The sabre growled, coming up behind the two. Giving screams, they ducked into their holes before he could reach them.

The two brothers were next to come out in front of me. Crash was first to react to my prescence. "Hey, a female!" He exclaimed. Hmph. They think because I'm a female I won't hurt them? WRONG. Growling, I lunged for them, while they screamed again and ducked into the holes.

I just watched in amusement as they then took on the two males, making them tangled up when they couldn't reach the two twins.

"If anyone asks, there were fifty of 'em, and they were, uh, rattlesnakes." Diego quickly untangled himself from the sloth, then glared at the possum twins. "Big mistake, you miscreants!"

"Uh, Diego, they're possums." Sid informed, pointing to the two said animals.

Crash and Eddie began making chicken noises, but when Diego roared and came after them Eddie (I think, it was hard to determine who was who from this distance) leapt into Crash's arms, yelling 'Retreat!'. And retreat they did.

Shrugging, I quickly took off after them, coming to a stop when we rounded the corner and the brothers ran over to hide behind a she-mammoth's leg.

"Shave me down and call me a mole rat, you found another mammoth!" Sid exclaimed, hurridly walking over to the herd with Diego and I following suit.

"What? Where? What a minute, I thought mammoths were extinct." The herd gave the female mammoth a weird look as she said this. "What are you looking at me for?"

"I don't know," Manny began, still looking at her weirdly, "Maybe because you're a mammoth?"

"Me? Don't be ridiculous!" The female, whom was named Ellie, exclaimed. "I'm not a mammoth, I'm a possum."

"Riiiight," Manny was not convinced. "I'm a newt." Pointing to Diego, he added; "This is my friend, the badger." He then pointed at me, "She's a fox." _Sweet. Always wanted to be a fox. _Soto was next. "He's a weasel." Then Singe. "A wolf." Then Fatal. "A wolverine." And lastly, Sid. "And the platypus."

"Why do I have to be a platypus?" Sid whined, then quickly pointed a claw at Fatal. "Make him the platypus!"

"Is this guy giving you trouble, sis?" One of the possum brothers glared at the seven members of the herd. Judging by his blue eyes and push-in nose, it was Crash.

"Sis?!" We all exclaimed, which was like a roar of thunder considering seven animals yelling rather loudly.

"That's right." Ellie smiled. She pointed her trunk at Crash. "Possum." Then at Eddie. "Possum." And herself. "Possum."

There was an odd moment of silence before Manny decided to say something. "I don't think her tree goes all the way to the top branch." He whispered to us.

"Loony lady." I heard Singe mutter under her breath.

"Hey, why don't they come with us?" Sid asked, suddenly excited.

"Are you nuts? No way!" Manny snapped, glaring at the sloth.

"Why not?" I suddenly asked.

"Yeah, you need a girl." Singe chimed in, coming to my defense.

"And you two don't need guys?" The mammoth glared at us, and I saw Sid smirk. _Don't you go there, sloth… _

"Manny wants to know if you'd escape the flood with us." Sid reported, walking over to the 'possum' trio.

Manny gave a startled look before Eddie marched over to Diego. "I'd rather be road-kill!" He sneered, Crash coming to his defense.

"That can be arranged." The sabre snarled, ready to attack them.

Ellie quickly wrapped her trunk around the two possums, dragging them back. "Excuse me. I have to have a word with my brothers."

"What did they do to get you so angry at them?" Soto asked his brother, confused.

"Long story." I cut in. "Long story short, they can dodge. And aim." I explained, ignoring the other two conversations.

"Fine, we'll travel with you, if your nice!" Crash snapped, walking over to the sabre-tooth, who only growled in reply. "See? That's the total opposite of nice!"

"Maybe we'll have a little snack before we hit the road." Diego taunted, turning to walk off.

"You want a piece of us?" Eddie asked, a mischievous gleam in his brown eyes. "Let's go!" Crash hopped into his brother's arms, using them to leap onto Diego and a small fight scene occurred. Lucky for Crash, Diego didn't actually bite down onto the small possum when he stuck his head into the sabre's mouth.

"You know what the best part is?" The possum asked, grinning. "We're carrying diseases!" A loud rumble from the glacier and the possum's words made Diego spit him out quickly, a disgusted look on his face.

"Okay, thanks to Sid, we're travelling together. Like it or not, we're going to be one big happy family. I'll be the daddy, Ellie will be the mommy, Diego will be the uncle who eats the kids who get on my nerves, Singe will be the exact same though an aunt, and Soto will be the kind uncle that will hurt the kids if they get on his nerves." After taking a quick break from the talking, Manny continued. "Delusion will be the aunt who will annoy the kids, Fatal will be the uncle who scolds the kids, and Sid will be the annoying dog. Now let's move it before the ground falls out from under our feet!"

"I thought fat guys were supposed to be jolly." Ellie murmered to her two brothers.

"I'm not fat! It's this fur, it's… poofy." Manny replied, huffing.

"Oh, okay." Ellie grinned, then turned to her brothers. "He's fat."

"Okay then… Better get moving before Manny has another spaz." Stretching, Singe hurried to catch up with the mammoth and three 'possums'.

I hurried to catch up to her, but stopped when I realised Sid was in the back; with Soto, Fatal and Diego. Oh dear. Rushing towards the female smilodon, I ushered her towards the back.

We made it just in time. Sid was beginning to say 'Delusion and Singe l--'. Luckily enough, Singe lashed out with her claws and dragged the sloth to the front of the herd, where she dumped him on the dirt roughly. "Hey!" He hissed, though we paid no heed.

* * *

Delusion and Singe are in a little bit of a pickle about Sid. Took me forever to write that out. Anyway, next chapter should be up tomorrow.


	14. Reptilian Attack

****

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own Ice Age or it's sequels, I only own Delusion/Tian, Fatal, Singe and Connor.

Terribly sorry for the delay, what with Christmas I've been busy with relatives and playing with presents. I'm working on trying to make my chapters a bit longer so the wait for them to be posted is actually worth it. I worked on this chapter for two hours getting the script as close as possible -for me- and working on the design of a newcomer in this chapter. Enjoy~

Chapter 14; Reptilian Attack

"Sid…" Manny groaned, getting ready to hit the sloth senseless. For the past hour the sloth had been trying to pass the time with conversation; Except his idea of 'conversation' was dicussing things such as plant species.

"What?" Sid frowned, looking over at the mammoth.

"Is it possible for you to shut up for five minutes?" Diego snapped, passing the two herbivores with a snarl directed to the smaller of the two.

"No." I answered plainly, stopping to rest my aching legs.

"Hey guys, c'mon!" Eddie yelled from up ahead, scampering along the ground and trying to catch Crash.

"Possums, what can you do with them?" Singe snarled as she took off walking again, aggravated.

"Eat them?" Soto suggested.

"We can all dream." Fatal remarked, stretching his slim body.

* * *

Later that day, the group began to tread on an ice field, leaving the safety of the plains behind. Oh dear. Why this place? If I remember correctly, it was where some sort of shark-like creatures attacked. Shuddering a little at what was to come, I slowed my pace to walk beside Fatal, but then slowed it even more so we were a while away from the herd.

"Delusion, what is it?" The male asked, letting his soft gaze sweep over me, concerned.

"You might want to stay back from the others right now." I whispered.

"Wh--" His reply was cut short as a thundering sound echoed around the area, along with the horrible sound of ice cracking, and not to mention startled yelps from the herd.

Luckily, Fatal and I were back far enough for our ice flows to crack into rather large pieces. But because we were standing so close together, I accidently tumbled into Fatal, which left us on the ground with me on top of him; an awkward position. I blushed and quickly got off, then let my eyes sweep over the water, looking for the herd members. Soto was on land along with Ellie, Crash and Eddie. Singe was in the water, great.

In my haste, I hadn't noticed how close I was to the edge of the ice piece I was on, along with Fatal; who was now straightening himself and if I saw correctly… a blush? So, I hadn't noticed green scales speeding towards the ice. Next thing I knew, I was torn off land and underwater, an immense force crushing down on my back leg. My captor swam deeply into the mini-ocean, and loosened it's grip. Yes! I was free! Wait, no I wasn't. It still held enough power to stop me swimming to the surface. Damn, it was trying to drown me.

Desperately struggling to get out of it's death-grip, I was relieved when I saw a figure plunge into the water. Once the animal came closer, I got a good look, Fatal! He swam past the fish's mouth though, what was he up to? I turned my head and saw an amazing sight; the wolf had latched his jaws onto the fish's fin and was turning quickly, like a crocodile death-roll! The fish gave a yelp and let it's jaws open, letting me speed out of it's striking range and towards air. Pressure on my lungs were killing me. I broke the surface and gasped for air, then looked desperately around for a sign of my grey-furred friend.

In a flash, something was under me. It came to the surface, so therefore made me on it's back. Fatal. Thank goodness. He quickly swam to the closest ice flow, then gently lowered me from his back.

"Thanks," I panted, rising to my paws. My left back leg had a deep inciscion on it, not enough to make it broken, but it risked infection. "You… How'd you do that? You did a crocodile death-roll!"

"No problem." Fatal smiled softly. "Well, it's a trick I use for water fights. I've been doing it my whole life." After explaining, the male slowly walked over to the next ice flow, jumping over the small gap of water inbetween the two.

Following suit, we continued to do this at a slower pace -Thanks to Fatal's concern of my leg- and soon made it to the largest one nearby to land. Everyone was already there, eagerly awaiting our return. Singe had a few cuts, and there was a nearby branch, thick and sturdy. My guess; Diego saved Singe. I'd ask about it later.

"Whoa, what happened to you?!" Sid exclaimed once I was on dry land, Fatal beside me. My leg was held off the ground, like a dog would do when it's paws hurt. This way the ground wouldn't add any pressure to the wound.

"Mutated fish got me." I growled, turning my head behind me to look at two figures glaring at us from the water. _'You sick little…'_ I snapped mentally at it's attempt to drown it's prey. "Fatal saved me before the fish could drown me."

"Speaking of savings, Diego saved Singe. Don't know how it happened though, was too busy laying down." The sloth grinned goofily, his eyes reading so-gonna-tell-him. I just gave him a glare in return.

"Can we get going, please? Unless you want another near-death experience." Manny snapped, turning to walk off.

"Oh, believe me -- I've had so many I'm basically immune to them now." I growled, but followed after the retreating mammals, Fatal still besides me.

* * *

"Ready Eddie?" Crash asked his twin brother as they rolled a log to the top of the hill, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Set." The two leapt onto the log as it started to roll down a steep hill, coming to a sudden stop as they hit a dead tree. Ellie was next to roll down on her log, passing over her 'brother's' log and over the tree, then continuing down.

"So, you think she's the girl for me?" Manny asked doubtfully, turning to Sid.

"Uh-huh." He replied, a grin across his face. "She's tons of fun, and you're no fun at all. She completes you." He drew his index fingers together to touch.

"Don't listen to him, Manny. We know you have fun. Just maybe not fun for us…" Singe muttered, walking past the duo.

"That's very optimistic, Singe." Fatal stated sarcastically as he too passed the two animals.

The two possums ran out of the log, Crash reached his hand up for a high-five from Eddie. They both tried, but missed. Falling to the ground, Crash quickly hopped up and jumped on Eddie's head, then the top of the dead tree. "Hey Manny, can you shoot me out of this tree and into the pond?" He asked excitedly, using his tail to wrap around the small branch and keep steady.

"No." The mammoth answered plainly.

"Aww, come on!" Crash whined, unlatching his tail with a frown.

"How do you expect to impress Ellie with that attitude?" Sid questioned, giving a smirk to Manny.

"I don't want to impress her!" He snapped.

"Then why are you trying so hard to convince her she's a mammoth?"

"Because that's what she is! I don't care if she thinks she's a possum, you can't be two things."

"Oh contraire, my friend," Sid held his claws up to tick off what he was then about to say, "Tell that to the bull-frog, chicken-hawk and turtle-dove."

"He's never gonna let up on you," Diego growled as he passed. "It'll be easier on all of us if you just go with it."

Sid gave a triumphant smirk. Manny sighed and turned to Crash, who's tail was shaped into a triangle and sitting on it, while Eddie was pushing him like a swing. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"Pull back the tree and shoot me into the pond." Crash replied excitedly, scampering to the top branch and wrapping his tail around it again.

"I don't know…" Manny trailed off, unsure.

"Well," The possum yet again unlatched his tail and leaned back on the tree, wiping his tiny claws against his fur and then examining them. Kind of like one of those cool guys in high school. "If you're too lame to do it, we can get Ellie."

"No, no. I can do it." The mammoth assured, pulling back the tree with his trunk. "Have you done this before?"

"Only a million times!" Crash pointed a finger in the air, grinning. "FIRE!" Manny let go of the tree, while the possum soared out of it. Ellie looked up in surprise a few hills down. "I can fly! I believe I can fly! Ugh!" From all the way up here, it was hard to see what the small mammal had hit - but I knew it was a tree.

"Uh-oh." Manny took off down the hills, along with almost everyone else in the herd.

I really couldn't bother to watch the exact scene over again. I'd seen it so many times already.

"He'll be alright." I barked to Fatal as he stopped, looking back at me with a questioning gaze.

"There's more then one movie, isn't there?" He whispered softly, cocking his head.

"Yes, there is. Please don't tell them," I pleaded, reaching my head back to lick the wound on my leg. I'd need some special leaves to heal this. Withdrawing from the grooming session, I began to walk down the dirt trail. "There's three movies in all, but I don't want to tell them about this one and the next one."

"Why?"

"You know how Sid is, especially Crash and Eddie. If I tell them what's going on and that there's two more movies," I paused here to think of the best way to explain it. "Well, what happens _after _that? Once the third adventure is over, Sid will look to me for guidance every time he's in a pickle. He'll expect me to know what's next. And if someone dies he might even blame it on me. Also, if I tell them what's going on right now, they'll try change the course of what should happen. The whole universe could fall apart if they change the movies. So, I don't want to interfere."

"Ah, I understand." Fatal nodded, letting his tail softly sway in the wind. "I won't tell them."

I nodded in appreciation.

"What can I say? They're boys! They make my life a little adventure." Ellie smiled sheepishly and ran after the two possums, whom were now playing. "You guys are so dead!" The herd winced as the sounds of her trunk hitting Crash and Eddie reached our ears. That scene went quickly.

"See?" I whispered to Fatal.

* * *

"Sid went to go forage for food. How can you guys even eat that vile stuff?" Fatal snorted, looking up at Manny.

"It's not that bad." I interjected, which received startled looks from everyone but Crash, Ellie and Eddie, who were playing tag nearby. "What? Humans are omnivores. Vegetarian and Carnivourous. Lettuce actually tastes like water with a bit of crunch. I'm more meat though. And by that, no, I don't go out and hunt animals. Humans have poultry farms and slaughter chickens, small animals that there are way to many of." My tastebuds then churned for that creature, it was beautiful. "Great, now I want chicken nuggets from McDonalds. It's a delicacy for carnivores."

"Okay then… Shall we go out and hunt?" Fatal questioned, which received a nod from Singe and I.

"Bye boys, be good." Singe smirked at Manny, Diego, and Soto, before following after Fatal.

The small hunting trio crashed through the trees, slower in speed then normal thanks to my goddamn leg. Over the months I had spent in this Ice Age world, I had become accustomed to the art of hunting. I accompanied every hunting trip, as I was the master of ambush. The hunting party was always made up of three members. I was the ambusher, a vital role in the hunt for fast animals. The second member, in this case Fatal, is the first to spring from hiding. He is to drive a selected target towards the third member; Singe. She is always in plain sight, as her prescence will drive the prey down another path, Fatal still in chase. Then, I make the first bite. All the antelope in the area had disappeared recently, most likely on the hunt for that boat. But a foolish Bush-Antlered Deer herd thought they would survive the flood, and therefore were grazing in a nearby clearing.

"Okay, Fatal, you circle around the herd." I ordered as we came to a stop. These animals were much stronger then gazelle, and it was on a rare time we'd hunt these deer. We'd have to make the best attempt. "See that old cow?" My head motioned towards a deer that was grazing on the edge of the clearing, she was old and weak, an easy target. "Drive it towards the paths down there. Singe will come out one of them and cause it to go down my path. I'll ambush it." My two companions gave a nod. Fatal separated from us as I lead Singe quietly towards a forked path.

"Which one do you want me on?" The sabre-tooth questioned, glancing at the paths.

"The left one." I jumped over to said path and instructed Singe to stay hidden in the bushes. "Once the deer comes your way, jump out and join Fatal in the chase. Lead it down the right path, I'll be waiting in ambush." She gave a nod. Satisfied, I disappeared down my path.

This one was coated with dark branches, they almost touched as they formed an arch over the path. A few metres through the trail and a large structure of rock caught my eye. Perfect. I stalked over and hid behind it, ears swivelling in all directions as I waited for the cow to come. Once she was in close range, I'd leap out and attack.

The sound of a roar reached my black ears, along with frantic hoof beats now turning in my direction. One…. Two….

"THREE!" I barked, leaping out from behind the rock structure and snarling at the cow, who was rearing in surprise. Singe, in a flash, was next to me. I growled and lunged for the deer's throat, successfully making a small inciscion. Falling back to the ground, I waited for the next move.

The deer suddenly began to fall to the ground slowly, that was the sign. Fatal had leapt on it's back and, under his weight, our prey was falling to the ground. I was next to join in, my claws latched around the cow's shoulders as I bit the back of it's neck. Unable to keep steady, she fell to the ground, Fatal and I keeping her pinned. My back paw stood on the cow's shoulder, as my two front ones heavily pinned the deer's head. Singe was to make the killing bite. We had to keep the cow's neck still, otherwise the sabre's fangs would break from making contact with bone. The female smirked, then her long fangs plunged into the deer's neck flesh. One bite severed the blood flow and strangled the wind pipe. The cow's life ended in a flash.

I leapt off of the corpse, licking my lips. As the sabre withdrew from the neck, her fangs were coated in a blanket of warm blood. Dinner was served. I lifted my muzzle to the sky and maw parted, letting a quick howl fill the air; one of triumph, and one to call. Finishing suddenly, I lay down and waited for Diego and Soto to join. I didn't like it when there were more then three hunters, as they paid no role with such an easily killed mammal. So, the two male sabres were my next companions in a hunt.

They joined the feast a few minutes later. With five hungry carnivores, the carcass was almost stripped to the bone by the time everyone had eaten their fill. The strong scent of blood was still wafting through the forest, which would attract other predators. I just didn't expect one to come so quickly. A low growl made me turn, looking over to the rock structure I was in only half an hour before. Emerald green eyes stared right back. Wolf. And a BIG one.

His eyes bore resemblence to Fatal's, emerald green with an intimidating gaze. Pelt was coal black with brown socks, but his right front paw was white, then had the same brown sock on top. His lips curled back into a menacing snarl, which revealed that his left fang was broken. It had a jagged point, and half of what a normal fang would be. Looked like he had bitten something and not let go, probably another wolf. The fang was sharper then a normal dire wolf's though. I actually thought of breaking one of my fangs in half at that moment to look more menacing, but it would hurt like hell.

He was about to pounce when his gaze quickly turned on Fatal. The resemblance of the eyes quickly thawed it's way into my mind. Were they relatives?

"Fatal?" The wolf asked, quickly pulling out of his fighting stance. His voice was deep.

"Connor?" The grey male replied, obviously startled. Once 'Connor' gave a nod and let a small smile across his lips, Fatal wagged his tail and excitedly turned to us. "Guys, this is my brother!"

* * *

Fatal has a brother? That's a surprise, ;o And no, Connor will not be joining the herd. He is a character that I've passed to many websites, like WolfQuest, Impressive Title, E-mail RP, and a few other sites. He will be making an appearence in every few chapters, visiting his brother and his 'family'. The next chapter will -hopefully- be longer and have an explanation on Fatal's past.

R&R. Have a good day readers!


	15. A Suspicious Setup

Believe it or not, 'Reflected Reality' is _finally _back! It's been a heck of a long time since I even considered continuing the story, but over those months I've progressed greatly in the skill of writing. While I'm on that subject, I'd like to point out a huge difference that will hit this chapter and the many ones after it; the perspective has changed. Instead of it being Delusion's, it will be in third-person.

Ever since I started Reflected Reality, I always thought 'was it right to make it first-person perspective?'. After all this time, I've reached an answer; no. Whenever I write a story, it just flows better in third-person. I hope my faithful readers will all see the improvement in the story as I did when I first made the change. And, I know what you're thinking; 'Wait, isn't it a bit weird to change the perspective half-way through the story?'. Okay, I'll admit, it's strange, but it's so much better.

Over this time, I have also delved deeper into the history and personalities of my OC's; Singe, Delusion, Fatal and (appearing for a short time only) Connor. You should see a big improvement on the way they act around certain circumstances.

With all that out of the way; here's the long-awaited Chapter _15 _of Reflected Reality! However, I must warn you, not the most exciting of updates.

**I do not own Ice Age or any of it's original characters. I only own the OC's that appear. **

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: **While you read through this chapter, you'll probably be thinking 'Hey, wait a sec, Connor never told his story'. This chapter happens AFTER he tells the story, and the chapter after this will be backtracking to his history. Hope that clears some confusion up.

**~Reflected Reality~**

_Chapter 15: A suspicious Setup_

One hour later…

The other four carnivores exchanged confused glances, not sure what to make of the situation.

The three sabres were, to sum it all up, utterly and totally lost. This was an awfully odd situation; Fatal's brother appearing out of no where, his stunning black pelt shimmering like a velveted blanket, the sun touching it and seeming to set it aflame like a coal black fire. His emerald eyes were gleaming with the natural shine of life, not betraying a single unhealthy bone within his body. The three found this suspicious. There was barely enough time to hunt whilst making the desperate race to the wooden boat, and a lone wolf's hunting abilities were limited. They couldn't believe that a pack wasn't nearby, aiding Connor in hunts. The ebony-furred wolf surely would have failed unless he was feeding off of much smaller critters, which now all seemed to be at the destination site.

Diego found his thoughts drifting back to how he had betrayed the herd, but then shook his head viciously to keep them at bay. That was a completely different matter. However, Connor reminded Diego an awful lot of himself when he had first encountered the mismatched trio, then consisting of Manny, Sid, and Delusion. The dire wolf was certainly arrogant to say in the least, snippy, stubborn, and cocky. He also could have been considered honourably brave or horribly stupid when he had snapped at Soto when the huge sabre had voiced his doubts about Connor's story. _'Well, believe it or not, this is my story, sabre! So back off!' _Thankfully, Soto had shrugged the comment off. Even though Diego secretly thought his previous leader wanted to tear the wolf's throat out right then and there.

Delusion wasn't faring much better. She had listened in silence during the whole of Connor's story, only muttering the occasional 'wow' or 'cool' when she thought it was appropriate. The moment he had showed up, however, she had wanted to get away. He had something about him that she just couldn't trust. It reminded her about the feeling of fear and anxiety she had encountered around Diego during the early days.

Lone Fatalis, however, couldn't be much happier. He had chosen to ignore the soft mutters the three sabres would share at times, and even paid no heed to Delusion's icy cold glares she would occasionally throw him. He couldn't understand why his four friends were so edgy around Connor. Sure, his brother was a bit odd and snappy, but so were the sabres. So, once the ebony-furred wolf had brought the story to a close, Fatal leapt to his paws in one fluid movement before the others could comment.

"You sure have been through a lot!" he barked smoothly, ignoring the way Singe shot him a worried glare from beside Diego.

Connor just stared back at Fatal with his own emerald gaze, their deep depths glimmering with an unfathomable emotion. It looked as if he were waiting for his brother to continue. Noticing this, the lithe grey wolf gulped once, only now paying attention to how cold Connor's eyes were. His intelligent mind seemed to fail him then as he searched for what to say next.

In an attempt to keep the conversation going, Fatal drew out a question that he was almost hesitant to ask. "What of Tsukami?" He suppressed a growl after that name, almost as if it were a lingering bitter sensation on the edge of his tongue.

Connor cracked a small smirk, parading the two rows of razor-sharp teeth that sat inside his maw. Delusion subconsciously pressed herself closer against Fatal, and witnessed Singe doing the same with Diego. "Our little brother?" the black brute chuckled coldly. "I don't know where he is."

Diego found his claws scratching against the dirt, agitated by Connor's cold reply to Fatal. The sabre narrowed his glinting hazel eyes, keeping a close watch on the black wolf. He barely acknowledged Singe leaning against him until Soto stretched over to mutter into his ear, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

The sudden sound jolted Diego back to the present, and he almost jumped when he finally realised the female sabre was leaning against him. However, keeping his composure, he turned slightly to look at his older brother with a mute nod.

"Uh, if you don't mind," Diego spoke up to the three wolves, cutting Fatal off (_'I'm sure he's out th-') _with an apologetic twitch of the ears. "We need to be getting back to the herd. You guys keep catching up and I'll tell the others that you'll be back later."

His voice cut into Singe's thoughts about the arrival of Connor, and once she realised how close she was to him she quickly moved away. She hid her embarrassment professionally by simply gazing at the wolves with glinting blue eyes.

Diego and Soto, exchanging glances that seemed to have some knowing connection between them, turned and disappeared into the undergrowth, Singe following in one effortless bound.

The tigress held back a hiss as a branch _thwacked _her in the face upon landing, almost completely throwing her off-balance. After stumbling for a heartbeat, she ducked under the same wiry twig that had attacked her tawny muzzle and hurried after the two males.

Diego paused briefly to let Singe catch up, holding back a chuckle at the frustrated posture she stalked past on.

The three sabres travelled only for a few minutes before stopping in a hollow, sitting in a circle in similar fashion to high-court meetings. Singe let her pale gaze wander around for a second. It didn't take a genius to figure out why the two males had left the scene.

"Right," Diego announced, bringing her thoughts to an abrupt stop. Singe shifted so she could look at the two brothers fully, bearing striking resemblance under the shimmering moonlight apart from the height and heft. "We _need _to figure out why this Connor's here. He can't be living on his own, hunting bush-antlered deer single-handedly, so far uninjured and certainly not as healthy as he looks. He's hiding something."

All was quiet for a moment, before Soto's deep voice shattered it. "Maybe we just missed something in his story." Despite how possible the idea was, his voice seemed unconvinced.

Singe nodded listlessly, her blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Possibly…" She mulled over the idea. Then she found herself recounting the tale Connor told them.

-o-

_Meanwhile…._

Manny had ordered the remaining herd (Him, Sid, Ellie, Crash and Eddie) to a stop after darkness descended over the land. The moon's filtering light reflected off of the mammoth's dark brown eyes, which now hinted with worry.

He slowly moved over to Sid, whom was rustling around in a nearby bush and gathering bundles of blueberries in his arms. Once the sloth noticed his friend's presence, he whirled around, accidentally letting a few of the berries tumble to the ground. "Hey, Manny!" he greeted cheerfully, a goofy grin showing off his two buckteeth. "Look what I can do with a berry!"

Manny just stared at the sloth skeptically, raising his lithe trunk to stop Sid before he did something -probably idiotic- with the bundle of berries. "Go tell that beaver if you want to do something stupid, 'kay?"

Sid, with a disappointed scoff, dropped the bundle and turned to look at his mammoth friend. "But that beaver doesn't like me!" he protested, wrinkling his nose. "How could she _not, _though? What's bad to like about me? Poor, poor innocent Sid the sloth…" He trailed off and flinched visibly when Manny raised his trunk to strike. "Sheesh, sheesh! Okay!"

The behemoth simply grumbled and lowered his trunk, ignoring the two possum brothers as they scurried up a nearby tree. "They've been gone for a while. Do you think we should go looking for them?"

The sloth just waved a hand in reply, as if shooing off the idea. "Ah, they're fine!" he remarked. "And I, for one, certainly do _not _want to stumble upon a dead carcass."

Manny, with a quiet sigh, turned and trudged off. Sid knitted his eyebrows together and shouted out an indignant 'hey!' to his friend, taking the lack of response as a refusal to talk. "So you'd rather watch as they ate a deer?" He scoffed overdramatically before returning to his foraging.

Manny walked aimlessly, basically just rounding a large cluster of trees while his thoughts wandered. For a brief second he spotted a brilliant flash of gold in the undergrowth and stopped to fix his chocolate brown eyes on the area it had appeared, but the streak didn't return. Passing it off as a trick of the moonlight, the mammoth continued pacing.

However, had he peered closer, he would have seen the slender-bodied figure pressing itself close to the ground, the foliage hiding it's soft pelt expertly. The shadows seemed to be in the creature's favour as it slid further into the forest, it's paws dancing on the soft carpet of grass.

-o-

_Meanwhile…_

The three canines sat there for what seemed like an eternity, until Fatal cleared his throat nervously. The silence was immediately broken and two gazes -piercing emerald green and soft pale blue- switched to him expectantly.

"Along with their departure-" he swished his bushy grey tail in the direction the three sabres had disappeared, "-We should leave as well. It's been an amazing pleasure to see you again, Connor." He smiled warmly at his brother, but to his dismay the ebony-furred wolf responded with only a blink.

Sensing the tension in the air, Delusion gingerly rose to her paws, biting back a bark of pain as her hind paw touched the ground. Once again she found herself running over all known curses in her head, directed to the odd fish-like creature that had tried to drown her. "Yeah, we really should get going," she chirped.

Connor responded with a delayed nod. "Of course. I'll see you around." He watched with cold, observant eyes as the other two wolves slipped into the undergrowth. He smirked softly at the sight of blood on the she-wolf's hind leg.

His thoughts were brought to a halt as a figure stepped out from behind a tree, moving smoothly over towards Connor like a mere breeze. "How are things with you?" it murmured in an undertone.

Connor shifted to gaze at his pack-mate, pondering over the revelation of his discoveries. Noticing this, the figure (now visible as a wolf under the moonlight) instantly spoke up. "I've been spying on that odd herd. Truly unique." It cracked a soft smirk before continuing. "But they are freaks of nature, all of them. I heard them speaking about the sabres. It seems like they really care for their well-being."

The wolf was a soft silvery white, seeming to glow with the moon's unblemishing filter. His eyes were a stunning gold, while his body was lithe and wiry. His muzzle sported the essential attire of a dire wolf - two gleaming fangs. An air of authority circulated around him, giving off a fearful vibe.

Connor nodded, a chuckle echoing from his lips. "Yes, they are certainly close," he responded. "I can't believe Fatal got caught up with them. However, that mammoth sure looks tasty. Anyway, what'd you find out, Tanner?"

Tanner swiped his tongue over his jaws as if tasting a juicy piece of meat. "A lot." A grin etched it's way onto his muzzle. "There's now two mammoths and two possums."

Connor immediately shared his friend's enthusiasm. "That's great!" he exclaimed in a soft undertone. "Imagine how well the pack will feed if we attacked."

"That's the whole reason we were sent out in the first place, Connor." The grin dropped from the white wolf's muzzle and was instead replaced by a serious gaze.

"I know, Tanner." Connor rose to his paws, his ebony tail brushing the grass fronds that danced in the breeze. "We should get back to the pack. We have a lot to report."

Tanner narrowed his brilliant golden eyes, a soft growl vibrating from deep within his chest. "Don't forget who your superior is, Connor," he warned, holding his bristling tail erect.

Connor stared at the other wolf boldly, his gaze unwavering. "I'm not, Beta," he murmured back, addressing Tanner by his rank name.

Flicking his tail, Tanner dropped his authorised posture and stalked past the younger wolf, who shot the Beta a venomous glare. Together the two wolves disappeared into the undergrowth like slithering shadows, the murmuring wind tugging at their shimmering fur.

-o-

_Meanwhile… _

Silence, once again, had fallen over the hollow that the trio had taken shelter in. They were all lost in their own thoughts, but a sudden unwelcoming scent drifted past and Diego snapped back to reality. He sniffed once, then recoiled back in disgust.

Soto noticed his younger brother's discomfort and immediately leapt to his paws. "Diego, what's wrong?"

"Smell the air," Diego murmured back, his ears swivelling frantically. The scent had certainly jostled his nerves.

The other two sabres did as instructed, then reacted the exact same way Diego had. "Wolves," Soto growled lowly.

Singe twitched her whiskers in confusion, raising her head to take another sniff. "One of them is Connor's," she clarified.

"And the other one; we don't know that one." Diego's sheathed claws shot out, digging angrily into the dirt. "I knew it. He's working with someone."

The other two nodded their agreement. "Come on. We need to get back to the herd."

The three sabres padded out of the hollow, all three pairs of eyes searching the landscape. Once they reached the top, Singe paused, whirling around to investigate the other side. Something caught her attention immediately. "Guys!" she hissed softly, turning back to the males. "Get under cover, quick!"

Diego, despite being majorly confused at Singe's sudden order, delved into the brush, quickly followed by his brother. Singe entered from the opposite side and crouched low beside him.

She jerked her head in the direction of the hollow. The sabres peered though the growth for only a second before something rustled on the other edge of the circular bowl.

Out stepped two wolves, their shapes outlined by a brilliant shade of silver from the moonlight. One was a shimmering white, while the other was all too familiar.

"It's Connor," Diego hissed under his breath. No one dare speak again as the canines rounded the hollow and passed by their cover, soon disappearing once again into the dense foliage.

Soto pushed past a wiry branch and crept back into the open, his senses at their peak. "Now we've got proof," he announced, swivelling his head back around to see his companions dragging themselves out of the bush as well.

Singe, though reluctantly, spoke her doubts. "Are we sure he's going against us, though?" she murmured, creeping over to the huge sabre's side.

"He's only just met us, but it doesn't take that much to get his companion, more likely companions, to attack the herd," Diego pointed out, shaking out his tawny fur to dislodge a few brambles. "If it's a big pack, they could probably go after Manny too."

Soto's vibrant eyes glinted in amusement. "And why, pray tell, can't we let them get to Sid?" he chuckled, earning a playful shove from Singe.

Diego cracked a vague smirk, but didn't answer the question. "Come on. Let's get back." The three once again followed the trail back to the herd, and thankfully didn't stumble upon any more dangerous distractions. They did, however, encounter two familiar faces.

Diego padded silently through the forest, still contemplating on the possibilities of Connor's sudden arrival. Those thoughts were literally shoved right out of his mind as he collided head-first with something. The force of the impact stunned him momentarily, but it didn't contain the aggression to knock him backwards or topple over.

With an aggravated growl, the sabre bared his blade-like fangs. He was about to make a resentful retort when he finally took a look at what he had ran into.

It was Delusion. The she-wolf had, unlike Diego, collapsed on the dirt, her paws flailing in panic for a brief second. When her pale turquoise depths caught sight of her friend, she visibly relaxed, letting the panic vaporize. It was replaced by a look of annoyance as she spat out, "You don't watch where you're going, do you, Tiger?"

Diego chuckled nervously, embarrassment flushing through his veins as Soto and Singe snickered from nearby. Apparently they had caught up. "Uh- sorry," he apologised quite lamely. "You okay?"

Fatal chose that moment to come barrelling out of the dense foliage, his lithe figure a streak of blurred grey. "Delusion! What happened? I heard you bark and th-" Once his ebony-coated paws hit the dew-soaked grass, he cut off mid sentence, gazing confusedly at the three sabres -Singe still giggling quietly- and Delusion. His vibrant green eyes lit up in concern when he noticed the wolfess was sprawled out on the carpet of grass.

Delusion, with a soft grunt, heaved herself to her paws, dirt splashed through her usually attractive black fur. "I'm fine," she yipped immediately to Fatal, though she tossed Diego a friendly/irritable glare when the male wolf looked away.

Diego noticed that Delusion held her hind leg off of the ground, and upon closer inspection he realised it was stained with a dry coating of crimson red blood. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked, concern lacing his tone.

Delusion scoffed good-heartedly, "Keep dreamin', Tiger."

Soto stepped into the conversation. "Where's Connor?" he questioned curiously. Diego thought he picked up the distinct sound of relief in his brother's nonchalant voice.

Fatal shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. We departed soon after you, so I'm not sure on his whereabouts."

Singe stalked past Diego, her mood visibly darkening at the mention of Connor's name. Hoping to change the subject before the group got into a quarrel with Fatal about their suspicions of Connor, the sabre suggested something that everyone could agree to. "Let's get back before they come looking for us."

The other four predators nodded. This time, they really didn't stumble across any more disturbances.

* * *

That's Chapter 15 of Reflected Reality finally done and dusted! Seems like I lied to you all when I said that Connor would be visiting his brother every few chapters, no? ;P He and his pack are going to be a major plot after the flood.

By the way, I'm looking for some OC's to appear in Connor's pack. They'll most likely get a big part whenever they come in contact with the herd, so if you're interested just leave a review or PM describing your wolf's basics. ^^ (Please, no purple/blue/etc wolves. Blueish-grey is fine.)

And a quick note; If you have the time, leave a quick opinion on whether you think first-person (Delusion's POV) or third-person works better for this story.

The next chapter will probably be up sometime next week, possibly earlier. Until then, have a nice life~!

**Drop by and leave a review! It doesn't take that much effort to click a button and write a few words. Reviews are appreciated. ;D**


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